Place

Driving home from Saturday’s Camp Staff Training workshop, I couldn’t help but reflect on the fact that 40 people showed up, and no one complained about spending a spring day in a workshop instead of outside doing whatever. Furthermore, everyone who was there seemed to be excited about the coming camping season, and about being on staff for their various camps. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to be there. In fact, some people came planning to be on staff for one camp and left having volunteered for more!

The age range of participants at the workshop ran from approximately 18 to 75, with the majority being in their 20s and perhaps early 30s. Why were they here, and why so eager to be part of this event? I did not ask anyone those questions, but I have talked with enough of them to have a pretty good guess at the answer.

At least for the young adults who were present, the answer has something to do with having found a place where they fit in. In this camping community, people are accepted and welcomed. There is no formality, no expectations about style of dress, and no questions asked. Returning staff are genuinely glad to see each other, and new staff members are warmly received. Nobody questions anyone else’s sincerity or value to the community. Each member is simply accepted.

The camping community is less about location than it is about place. Saturday, we were in Stratford, but all of our camps will happen elsewhere. Yet each person there seemed to feel at home. They had found their place; a place where they are accepted, feel at home, and belong.

What a wonderful community this is. Six reunions, four camps and numerous retreats are well along in the planning process. The staff are excited and ready to share the peace of Jesus Christ with others. In fact, they can hardly wait!

During a breakout session toward the end of the day, someone expressed that camp is a place where lives are touched and transformed by a “brush with the Spirit.” May the Good Spirit brush many in the camping community this summer, and may they also discover that they have found their place.

Posted by Carman