Do You Remember Summer Camp? A Parent's Story

When you were a kid did you get to go to camp? If so, do you remember making new friends, having cool camp counselors, doing crazy skits around the campfire and having times of worship that sent you back home on a spiritual high? I hope all of you got to have this experience at least once in your life.

This past week, my teenage children got to go to camp. As a parent, we always hope that these trips will be a mountaintop experience spiritually for our kids. Last year they went to a different camp where they got to ride ATV's and have paint ball wars and swim everyday in a nice pool. They had a blast and made lots of new friends and hoped to go back again this summer. But the plan for our youth group was to go to a different camp this year at our UM Camp Wilderness. I was concerned that this camp would not offer the same experience that my kids had last year.

My worry was for nothing. My kids came home and spent over a solid hour, each, talking about new friends and the fun they had. But even more meaningfully, they said the best part of the week were their experiences participating in small groups and in worship, even getting to help plan the services. My son talked about how one of the services was about carrying grudges and what a burden it was. How they each carried a good-sized rock in their hands lifted halfway up and walked across a field. Just as the rock became more burdensome, so do the grudges we hold on to. They talked about asking Christ to walk with them as they released these grudges. My daughter told of worship where they talked about shame and how there is nothing you can do that will make God love you less. These times with God and their friends made a deep impact on their souls.

At first, they didn.t like that this camp was more restrictive with their time. Last summer, they had more freedom to do what they wanted, but this camp required they do things together in their small groups or with the larger group. By the end of camp they said they realized how they became much more connected with everyone and that their worship times were deeper and spiritually bonding. Even though they didn.t have ATV.s and paintball and swam most of the time in a lake, instead of taking away from their experience, they felt it added to it. They grew closer to God and to others in all the meaningful time they spent together; and they are hoping they get to go back next year.

Getting to see our kid's souls grow and God become more real to them is such an amazing blessing! May you find your own camp-like retreat to get closer to your God.

Gina Kennedy, Associate Pastor
Woods Chapel Church, Lee's Summit MO