The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
You probably think of Christmas when you hear the phrase “the most wonderful time of the year.” (You probably sang that phrase, too). So why am I quoting the line of a Christmas song in the summer. No, it’s not because of Christmas in July. It’s because it is camp time. Every year for the majority of my life I have packed my bags at the end of June with shorts, t-shirts, a Bible, bedding, toiletry items, a ball glove, and lots of snacks and head to the most wonderful week of my year. For the last 17 years I’ve also been loading up my own kids and taking them to Maywood so they can experience many of the same things. I might not have influenced my kids in every way that I would want, but I have somehow instilled in them the love of that little piece of land outside Hamilton, Alabama.
Why is it that many kids love camp so much? Why is it that a hot June or July week—one that includes a continual sweating for almost the whole time—could be considered the most wonderful time of the year for so many? The answer is simple. It’s not about the external things. It is hot and tiring but the physical struggle doesn’t compare to the positive aspects of camp:
1. Focus on God. Christian camp is about reconnecting with God each year. It is a time you can “get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely” and simply look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:1). We can learn in those moments that life can be done with God as the most important voice in our lives. The struggles and the pressures of everyday life seem to fade into the background for that short week of camp. We praise, study, pray, and admire the creation of the Creator. Things that we should do each week, but seem to do so with less outside interference while at camp.
2. Connections. It is a gathering of almost all of my favorite people in one place. In that way, it seems like a little glimpse of what eternity will be like. In fact, we often refer to it as a “little piece of heaven on earth.” I know I’m partial to Maywood but many people look at the camp they attend in the same way. Whether it is Neyati, Sardis Lakes, Maribah, Backwoods Bible Camp, Indian Creek, or one of the hundreds of others in the United States and around the world, camp holds a special place because of the friends that gather there during that week every year. Some of the people I’m at camp with this week have been there every single year that I have for the last 27 years or so. Connections are crucial. Connections are what make it a special place.
3. Reseting the Compass. It is easy for our focus to shift to the wrong things. People have always needed times of revival. Each year many churches still do gospel meetings and or aptly named “revivals” for this very reason. In the Old Testament times there would be periodic reminders that they were losing their focus. In the last book of the New Testament Jesus reminded the church in Ephesus that they had “lost their first love” and that they needed to repent (Revelation 2:4, 5). While the youngest campers might not really need this aspect as much, older campers and adult volunteers do and its part of why they keep coming back year after year.
So, if you are going to camp this year I hope all of these things and more will bless your life. if you aren’t going to camp this year let me urge you to pray for those who are. Go ahead and pray each week of the summer for the kids, teens, and adults that will experience camps around the world. Pray for their focus. Pray for their connections. Pray for their compass. Pray that it will be their most wonderful week of the year as they recharge their spiritual battery to take on everyday life upon return.
Ben