Why Camp?

The time has come. Some of us are trying to figure out what to pack for ourselves. Some are trying to determine what to send with their kids. It can be similar to when your mom asked you to go outside and pick the switch she was going to spank you with. You have to weigh so many options. With the switch it was whether she would send you back out for another one when you came in with one too small or if the larger one you picked was going to do too much damage—you had to find the perfect fit. With camp packing you are fluctuating between whether this looks too bad to wear in front of 250 other people or if its too nice to risk losing when your kid leaves it hanging on the line or at the pool. Or worse yet, will the smell of camp ever fully come out of it?

All that might make you think I have negative thoughts about camp. That could not be further from the truth. It is the greatest week of the year in my opinion. It has been since I was the kid ruining his clothes at camp…and now all my kids have had the opportunity to ruin or lose their own clothes at camp. And I welcome that opportunity. It is such an insignificant and meaningless problem to have compared to the great benefit that comes from this spiritual booster shot each summer.

They will sing praises to God in formal worship services, in devos, and in their cabins. They will open God’s Word in Bible classes, keynote sermons, and with their friends in bunk beds with a flash light long after the cabin lights are turned out. They will joke, play, study, argue, laugh, and cry with their fellow campers. And they will be better for having experienced those highs and lows of life with their fellow believers.

They will be tired when they get home on Saturday. They might even be a little irritable from pouring out every ounce of energy on worship, study, and fun with fellow Christians. There will be plenty of clothes to wash. There will be bags to put away. There will be long stories to be endured…many of which you might not completely understand because you “just had to be there.” And yes, they most definitely will smell like camp. To you it may be an appalling concoction of sweat, dirt, and axe spray, but to God it is a sweet aroma of young hearts who have been walking in sync with their Creator in his wonderful creation (Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 4:18; Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 13:15-16).

Ben