Exaggerations

"'Camp' is a vision of the world in terms of style - but a particular style. It is the love of the exaggerated." -Susan Sontag

It is easy to get caught up in camp.  There are certain things that happen at camp that don't happen anywhere else.  My camp director often reminds us that big decisions are made at camp for reasons we may not understand.  In some ways, this makes a staffer's job feel more weighty.  We are part of this decision-making for students, decisions that may change the course of their life. 

However, it is also easy to get caught in the "holy huddle" of camp.  It is easy to let your mindset follow this pattern: Important things only happen at camp. This is the best place to find friends like myself.  Camp is way better than home. 

Camp is a love of the exaggerated - we take Christians who are serious about their faith and stick them on college campuses and in vans for 8 weeks of the summer.  We bring together students who desire to learn and grow and live with them for a week.  Camp often brings out the best in people.  We discuss theological ideas and deep questions that aren't often emphasized or thought about outside of the camp arena. We exaggerate specific things in order to help the students understand.  Our friendships are 'exaggerated' in a way - closeness and bonding is quick and nearly immediate as staffers are put into a make-it-or-break-it kind of situation.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Staffers and students alike often leave camp changed for the better, with goals and desires that they take back home.  Many times they depart camp a transformed person. 

But it is easy to get caught up in the mindset that things at home just aren't as good.  When camp becomes an exaggerated "good" and "real" life is no longer cherished, the love of the exaggerated gets in the way of growth at home. 

As camp winds down and we finish up our last week of camp, my mind is beginning to turn toward the transition out of camp.  I'll leave the huddle of Worldview and head back into the daily routines of home and school.  It can be hard to adjust out of "camp mode", but this year, I am eager to take the knowledge that I have gained this summer and let it renew my mind and heart at home. 

This post is similar to the previous post on growth and change [http://efairbaugh.blogspot.com/2011/07/growing-through-change.html].  Departing camp is a hard change that brings tears and reflection but it also brings about some major growth spurts as well.  It is these times of growing and learning that my heart is already looking forward to. 

Right now, the challenge is to remain in "camp mode" and let this week be the best week of camp for the students that I have, even as I anticipate my return to Pennsylvania on Saturday.

May the love of the exaggerated at camp turn into a love for the same growth, development, learning, bonding, and discipleship at home.

May your lives where you are now not depend on certain exaggerations but may the be grounded and steadfast in the person of Christ and His death and resurrection.