Packing Up and Heading Out

Camp season is upon us.

For me, right now, in the week I have before I actually leave for camp, that means preparing.  Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

But planning worship music and teams and scheduling, working on devotions and small group times, reading "Think" (a book we'll discuss at staff training), packing (easier said than done) and preparing my heart and mind for camp season can be a bit overwhelming.

Don't get me wrong: I am very excited for camp.  Now that school has finished for the year and my mind is no longer swirling with music history notes, dates from the 19th century and information on how to interpret the Psalms, I can focus entirely on camp and let my heart get excited for the summer.

My prayers right now are focused on staff training and my students.  In two weeks time, over 60 college students will gather in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to begin an 8-week journey together.  How these staffers bond, communicate and work at camp is crucial to how well camp runs.  This first week in Bartlesville sets the stage for that and is an important bonding time for each team.   I am excited to meet my fellow staffers and to begin to see the dynamics of our team take shape.  I am also excited (and nervous, too) about beginning the process of putting together the worship team and playing together for the first time.  As a camper, worship was one of my favorite parts of camp, and I know that I want our team to strive for excellence in this area. 

This is my staff team from 2010. 

I am also praying for my students.  Over the course of the summer, I will have about 50 teenage girls in my small groups.  These are the girls that I am most excited to meet and talk to and share with.  These girls come into camp with so many different backgrounds - some excited for camp, some forced to come; some with Christian families, some with very little Christian influence in their life;  some wanting to learn, some there just for fun.  My goal, my passion, my desire, is to see these girls leave camp changed.  To see them come to a deeper and richer understanding of who God is, through our times together, through the way I live my life that week and through conversations that we have, both serious and silly. 

I am reminding myself of a lesson I learned at camp last year, though.  It is not my job to make my girls love camp.  It is not possible for me to force them to love Jesus more.  My job is to love them as Jesus does and to share my passion for His glory with them.  My job is to listen.  My job is to encourage.  And I am praying that God gives me the strength and wisdom to do this well.  Colossians 1:28-29 says this: "Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me."  This is my prayer for the summer - that I might proclaim Him and teach with wisdom and grace.  But the part of the verse that really "clicks" when I'm at camp is that I'm struggling and working toward this goal through His energy, through God's strength and not on my own.

I will miss being at home this summer.  I will miss eating 'real' food, and sleeping in my own bed.  I'll miss serving at Vacation Bible School at my church and being with the elementary kids.  And living out of a suitcase…well, it's not the most exciting part of camp. 

But I am thrilled to be leaving. I am excited to grow and learn this summer, to change and be challenged and to help others do the same.  I am excited to invest in the lives of girls - both students and staffers.  I am excited to be with my team - to laugh, to cry, to share, to pray together.  

Memories made at camp last a life time. 

I'm not a huge fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson (not really a fan at all) but this quote rang true with me: "For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else."