My camp retrospective
My summers attending Camp Luther revealed the love of Christ lived through camp counselors, who became the hands and feet of Jesus. Later, I had the privilege of being one of those counselors. Hundreds of kids would come through the gates of camp, served by dozens of camp staff, with one constant, God was working in them all through His Holy Spirit.
The work began every morning, when the camp population gathered together to praise God and hear from His Word. As evening approached, those same people returned to cabins having been refreshed through that same Word at campfires. Bracketing each day with God's Word prepared many for exhilarating highs and challenging lows. Summer days can be long and tiring. Some cabin groups become best friends; others simply learn to coexist. Games end in victory or defeat. But none of that overcame the Spirit's work, instead it was exemplified. Routines of devotions and praise reinforced the love of Christ for campers and staff alike. To many, such times carried a magic presence of what it means to believe in Jesus who shows His love for us.
I once spoke of this with a friend and former co-counselor who then shared that the magic of camp had grown distant in retrospect. That made me think. Our perceptions of past memories shift and change as we grow older. What once was joyful and exuberant becomes lost in the mundane. The memories from summers at camp are not immune to this, but they are different. What some refer to as magic, I recognized as the Holy Spirit at work. What others see as mere memories, are also the seeds of faith in young lives. Even as summer days of youthful optimism shift into days of old, God has not ceased to work. His Spirit is alive and active through the same Word which was heard by many in the woods of camp. That Word continues to point to Jesus in our churches, our homes, and to this day, in the hands and feet of those who share Christ at Camp Luther.
Joy in Jesus,
Jordan