Summer Sundays

Summer Sundays, I will miss them.

It is hard not to get nostalgic at this point of the summer. A summer spent here is amazing… it consumes all other realities, the outside world literally melting away in this environment. On one hand I can’t wait to get my life back, on the other hand I don’t want to loose the magic. It is magic, no better word comes to mind.

Let me count the ways:
*Camp is very intense (with all the hormones around here… tears are a way of life).
*Camp is comfortable… it is all I have ever done (OK, I was a horse farm manager, a candy shop owner, and a car salesman… but those weren’t real jobs).
*Camp is in my blood (it is unusual for one family to do one thing for so long, might as well blame it on the blood).

If you have been a camper yourself, you know what I am talking about. Camp, any camp, is a wonderful experience… possibly the best experience a child can have. It is unlike any other experience I have ever seen. Confidence grows naturally, developed slowly from the daily experiences of the camp community (like muscles on an athlete). This growth is hard at first, then the benefits begin to appear, we walk and then we run. It works this way for counselors and campers alike (and Directors). We are better for the time spent here, we wish it could go on.

Sunday is especially special, for it is one of the busiest days of the week for us directors… busy from 7:00 (check emails and start the blog) till 12:00 AM (back home after the weekly staff meeting). Sundays are busy but filled with quiet worship too… quite a juxtapostion. The camp is quiet but also active, it is a day of significance.

Sundays are great… starting with a 3 mile run on the track for anyone who wants to join the “Stumblers” (a running club started by my father, meets on Sunday mornings at 8:00). Three hundred campers (or more) will decide to wake up early for this opportunity, it is a pretty cool shirt! Buffet breakfast, cabin cleanup, 11:00 Sunday School (like morning assembly), and 12:00 Church. Tim Udouj is our minister this August camp. Tim is an RUF campus minister to Furman University, he has been the August Camp minister for 4 years… he is incredible. The benefits of having a minister on site are subtle, but profound. We are blessed in a thousand ways. Afternoon will be free activities, lots of games and play things out… tonight will be a pizza buffet and Camp Life EP. It is a nice day…

We are already working on the final touches that will “ice the cake” of this summer. There will be some really great moments over the next few days, we are going to sprint to the finish line and closing day will be a day of feasting and celebration for a job well done. I am very proud of this staff, they have been spectacular.

Thank you for checking in. You really are the best (Sundays are the lowest day of the week for website activity, I know anyone checking today are the fanatics!