Scruffy has been cutting boards and sanding and painting on coats of polyurethane for the past two weeks. Now I am happy to report that his project is finished. Two beautiful wooden benches now grace the shower rooms of the main lodge. I present to you: The Shower Room Benches of Camas Meadows!
In the Boy’s Bathroom
In the Girl’s Bathroom
Boo Boo
Athena is a tough, fun, capable girl counselor. My boys love her because this girl knows how to wrestle. She picks them up and slings them around and isn’t the least bit ill-at-ease when three fierce little boys see her from across the room, grab up Nerf weapons, and run toward her screaming their battle cries. Most of my conversations with Athena have been quick exchanges in her classic gruff but loveable style.
But I had the rare opportunity to talk with her in depth at the Summer Staff Winter Retreat. I love it when you get a glimpse into someone’s heart and I was not disappointed with my peek at the thoughtful girl who lies beneath Athena’s fierce exterior.
Athena graduated last summer, served at camp, and moved out of state where she is working hard toward achieving a lifelong dream of becoming a horse trainer. I asked her how her new job was going. She sighed. “I’m beginning to see that the little things matter. In Pennsylvania I can’t see the stars. When I came back to Washington for Christmas I discovered that I don’t really belong here anymore. But then when I came up to camp, I realized that this was it, I had come home.”
I knew that Athena was a good counselor, a fun individual, and superb at roughhousing. But I didn’t realize what Camas had become to her. I didn’t realize that it was her home.
When Scruffy and I were called to camp we had an idea of what working at this ministry entailed. But God’s call is so amazing, it is more and less complicated then you think. It is many different things. It is my husband over in the kitchen doing dishes this weekend because we don’t have enough dishwashers. It is sitting with a lonely child in the meadow during summer camps. It is telling someone of God and the glories He has brought to your own messed up life. It is wrestling with the Director’s kids when their mom needs to run and grab them a change of clothes. It is loving the people that show up, whether they are campers or counselors, speakers or nurses or kitchen staff. And sometimes it is providing a place. A place that is safe, where you know that you will be loved, somewhere to come home to after you grow up and have moved away.
Boo Boo
Maximus is one of our boys’ favorite counselors. He wrestles a lot, isn’t frightened when all three of them leap out from behind the camp couch and pelt him with a barrage of Nerf darts, and he is very very patient.
Maximus is one of THE RETURNED.
Most counselors serve at Camas for a few summers during high school, until life catches up to them and they are forced to get real-live-paying-jobs in order to earn $ for college. Once in awhile one of them will finish college and then inexplicably return. This is always a glorious blessing beyond what we could ask for or expect.
After the Summer Staff Winter Retreat last week, Maximus wrote something on his facebook that made me realize I had to interview him and find out why he keeps coming back.
Maximus–“I finally get home from winter retreat and I’m laying in bed and it doesn’t quite feel right. Then I realize every time I leave Camas, I leave a little of me behind, which would be why it’s a tug on my heart to leave every time.”
I asked Maximus what his first memory at Camas Meadows was. He laughed. Scruffy and Camo Man walked up to him, picked him up off the back porch, carried him off, and threw him into the dunk tank. He said, “Now that I think about it, events like that help break down our barriers and get us out of our boxes.”
About his years as a camper Maximus told me–“My relationship with God grew mainly through Camas, and without it I would probably be leading a very different life. Camas helped me through my parents splitting. It helped me through rough years at school. I don’t think I could count on my hands and toes how many times Camas has brought me back to the right path.”
Maximus was a camper for about five summers before he became one of our camp counselors. When asked about serving the kids as a boys counselor he said–” When I was a counselor it was amazing to know that the kids I was leading looked up to me and looked to me for help. Having gone through hard times myself it made it easier to level with kids who had a rough time.”
Maximus is amazing to watch. He is so good with kids. He is great with my boys, as well as with campers, and counselors, and other camp staff. He manages to be fun, tough, honest, gentle, and real all at once. He has blessed both those he comes to serve and those who have the privaledge of serving with him. Maximus is both part of the reason we serve and part of who God has allowed us to become. We gave to him, but he has given back to us so much more than we ever expected. Thank you Maximus. For the years of wrestling and mayhem, thoughtful honesty and sacrifice, and giving us the honor of walking this journey together.
Maximus–“Camas is a safe haven for many people. One I have not found anywhere else.”
Boo Boo
I’ve done a blog post about Del and Autumn, my dad Greg, Scruffy, Sweet Tea, even about Big Boy the elk. But I have neglected to tell you about my husband’s partner in this ministry, our downstairs neighbor, and the only person who was willing to teach the art of plastic sword fighting to a bunch of sugar-crazed kindergarteners at our youngest son’s birthday party. So…who is Choco?
Choco started out as a camp counselor. On his first night as a C.I.T. he decided to scare some girls who were walking down the dark wooded path toward the campfire. Growling like a rabid bear he lept out of the woods making them scream in a satisfying fashion. Proud of his accomplishment Choco then proceeded down the path thinking that he was safe. Then out of no where, the furious form of Storm (one of our girl counselors) struck with deadly force. She smashed his 6’2″ frame to the ground in a flying tackle that Choco swears was far superior then those doled out on an actual football field. Thus initiated Choco has been with us ever since.
He has been a counselor, our camp intern, he has directed the program, and leads our children in worship. He drives our camp bus, fixes all the vacuums, patches the inner tubes for winter sledding, brings back our electricity when the camp generator has one of its inexplicable catastrophes, and regularly has Nerf wars with my three irrepressible sons.
Whether it is soothing the soul as he strums his guitar or rescuing us from the horrors of a smoking generator, Choco is a vital part of Camas Meadows. Thank you so much for all you do up here. For helping me clutch start my car, for plowing the road in the winter, and for choosing to laugh instead of growl when my boys run downstairs and jump on you with Nerf swords in hand. Choco, you are a blessing and a gift and we thank God that you came up to camp and haven’t left yet.
And so there he is folks. I present to you…Choco.
Boo Boo
Last weekend all three of our boys had the opportunity to be campers with their Dad. Two of them are too young to be summer campers and so this was a big deal. Chris Weedin aka VanHelsing, was the speaker and he led a “Raising A Modern Day Knight” weekend here at camp for boys and dads.
Our boys were ecstatic. They got to sleep over at camp, sword fight with Choco, fight The Dark Knight with their Daddy, and build forts and have Nerf gun wars with Odysseus (one of our camp counselors) and Choco (our maintenance director) while the dads were in session.
While all the boys were wrestling/Nerf warring/fort building, all the dad’s watched the “Raising a Modern Day Knight” video sessions and had discussions about fatherhood. Then they finished the weekend off with a knighthood ceremony with their boys (using a real sword) and getting to fight the “Black Knight” together as a team.
Scruffy (our director/my husband) brought home three exhausted but happy boys when the weekend was over. Thank you Chris, Scruffy, Choco, Odysseus, and Sweet Tea for making this wonderful camp happen. The boys had a blast and so did their daddy.
Boo Boo
So, I was running around all crazy the other day. I had to drive down off the mountain to pick up my oldest boy from a birthday party and get a bunch of vanilla icecream for camp, but first I needed to pick-up a dishwasher for the weekend. One of our C.I.T.’s (counselor in training) had traded dishwashing time for the chance to come up as a camper to CamasCon and so Scruffy cashed in her I.O.U. and sent me to Tumble’s house to pick her up.
As we wandered through the dark countryside, missing the right driveway and doing sudden U-turns into small country roads, we started talking about camp. At one point she told me that she had become a completely different person since camp. “What do you mean?” I asked. And then she told me a story I have heard before. She was at that place. The watershed. That point where a Christian kid looks back and sees their childhood faith, looks forward and sees adulthood approaching, and wonders what they are going to do with God once they have stepped out on their journey alone.
Was God just some lovely myth from her parents, passed down through her family to land in her lap?
She came to camp as a C.I.T.. We hounded her, we trained her, we made her work and struggle and didn’t give her much time to sleep. And we loved her. The girl that I drove up to the camp kitchen that night was confident. She knew who she was and she knew her Lord.
“What about camp was so significant to you?” I asked.
“The love.” Tumble said. “When I am at camp I am loved. It is the one place in the whole world where I can be myself.”
So, I wanted to tell you good job. Sometimes camp does not run smoothly, everything is all crazy, equipment is breaking down, and you wonder if you’re ever going to get it right. Well, you did Camas Staff of 2013. You remembered to love.
Boo Boo
My husband is giving his testimony at CamasCon this morning. As I was praying for him I realized that it is easy to despise the quiet works of God. Things like a long phone call on a rainy day, holding a crying baby so your neighbor can take a shower, or a weekend of boardgaming with friends who love God.
It was not a mighty sermon that won my husband over to God. It was not a fierce and determined missionary or someone stopping him on the street and handing him a tract. No, Scruffy was edged closer and closer to the kingdom of God by quiet acts of love. A believing friend stopping by to borrow chewing tobacco, Christian friends asking him to join a game of football, and spending hours upon hours playing video games with a young man who eventually shared his testimony. Simple, even ignoble things. All used for the glory of God.
So, do not despise the quiet works of the LORD.
Do not despair. God is at work. If we set these things before Him. If we accomplish tasks with His love and an eye upon His kingdom. God can use that. He is the master of using the simple things of this world to accomplish mighty works. That can be you my friend, and that can be me.
This week at Camas Meadows Bible Camp that means CamasCon. Playing games all night, creating a place where no one is going to yell and throw game bits when they lose, eating lots of snacks and drinking too much coffee. Hearing Scruffy talk about his ragged journey toward a God who dared to rescue the sinners and the sacrilegious. Simple things, done with love.
But Scruffy knows not to despise them, for that is how the God of all wisdom finally captured his heart.
Boo Boo
There aren’t many camps running during the fall. But autumn at Camas Meadows is one of my favorite seasons. Frost in the mornings, bright sunny afternoons, chilly starlit evenings, and the sound of bull elk bugling and fighting in the undergrowth through the window at night. When I was a little girl the meadow supported a herd of 200 elk. Now there are only twelve. But they are still lovely to behold and the boys and I are on the lookout all fall for Big Boy, the king of the forest.
There are several bulls on the meadow this year and they spend their days fighting it out over a small herd of lovely ladies. For the boys it is not enough to get a glimpse of these beautiful animals, they want to see the biggest strongest most fearsome elk on the meadow. They want to see Big Boy. First we would see one bull and yes he was impressive. Surely he was the one. But no, the cow elk were nowhere to be seen. Then another bull would bugle and brandish his antlers and we were completely convinced. But again the cows were not. Finally we found him, Big Boy, the king of the forest. Of course he was always hiding behind a tree or branch, but I did the best photography I could. And so here for your viewing pleasure is Big Boy. Three different views of Big Boy, in all his glory, as well as some branches and trees.
Boo Boo
What is Camas Meadows Bible Camp?
People can and do spend $1000.00 dollars a week to send their kids to camp. We are not that camp. Some camps have a vast complex of buildings with cabins for kids and married couples and adults with bad backs. We are not that camp. Some camps have their own lake or pool, jet skis or giant inflatables, climbing walls and cabins that are built right into the tops of trees. We are not that camp.
We are tiny. We are simple. We are a small cluster of log buildings hidden in the woods. We are some old weathered benches gathered around a campfire in the meadow. We are kids standing together raising their hands in worship accompanied by a teenager and a guitar.
But we have our place. God has called us too. And there is something lovely, a breath of the divine, in walking along with your master on the road He has prepared for you.
Boo Boo
The Boys at Lake Valhalla
Our family just went on a hike to lake Valhalla last Saturday. We donned our packs and herded our three wild-walking-stick-wielders and headed up the trail. There were heavy rains the night before and a plethora of strange and lovely mushrooms carpeted the ground. Each mushroom was considered a photo worthy event and I took 28 fungus photos before I finally convinced the boys that we had properly documented that particular mushroom bloom.
This adventure did take away my blogging time. But it also reminded me of why we have camp. Well, one of the reasons at least. And gave me something to say.
Romans 1:20–“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made….”
God is here, right in front of us. He can be clearly seen in the shocking variety of mushrooms, in the cold rocky stream where the boys floated sticks, in the long lean mountain lion and the puffy whistling marmot. He is in the crisp alpine wind snatching through our hair as we topped the ridge and finally looked down upon lake Valhalla and His handiwork is spread out bold before us in the deep crystal waters that plunge suddenly into darkness two feet out from the rock where we ate our lunch.
And we hold in our hands a small bit of God’s glory, here at camp, to share with each camper who comes.
God is in the croaking chorus of frogs in the pond at night, the bright spread of stars across the sky, and in worship songs sung outside at Inspiration Point. His glory is clear in the soft rustling of meadow grass under a summer sun, the bright clean blue of the sky against ponderosa pines, and the elk that walk through at dawn.
When your world consists of the inside of a house, a school bus, a car, a classroom, a gymnasium, and the carefully fenced recess toys…it is hard to see God. At camp we are privileged to offer up some of His beauties, and to give campers just a glimpse of God’s many splendors.
Bull elk during the fires last fall
Boo Boo
