We trained our summer staff this last week. Staff Training is such an intense time. Somedays it feels as though we have crammed a year’s worth of information into a six day period and are then expected to remember everything. But it is so very good, too. It takes a special kind of person to give up their summer for others. Pictured here are kids who have given up summer employment, recreation, mission trips, educational and sports opportunities, we even have a couple who gave up most of their honeymoon to come up here to this little backwoods Bible camp and serve kids. Yep, three days after the wedding they were here and ready to work. Unlike the two dogs who are featured (Princess Leia and JJ) who are quite honestly having the time of their lives and whose greatest difficulty is rolling over so that they can receive belly rubs more effectively, the teens and young adults here will work their tails off all summer long. Pray for them. They will be beaten down with weariness of body and spirit, because when your campers are hurting, your heart breaks. There is no way around it. They will rise up as someone different than the kid who walked into the lodge on the first day of staff training. Because a challenge such as this requires growth. God will walk beside them and they will actually notice because they will be brought so low that only God can help them shuffle forward. And thus they will stand taller than they ever have before, because His strength will shine like the dawn in their weakness. Thank you, everyone who has left comfort and profit and a sensible summer behind to serve here at camp. Camas Meadows would not be here without you. You are our heroes. 

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After the Jewish leaders tried to seize Jesus, He escaped their grasp and went back across the Jordan. I was struck by how much these verses reminded me of camp.

John 10:40-42–“Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here He stayed and many people came to Him. They said, ‘Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.’ And in that place many believed in Jesus.”

It wasn’t safe in the more populated areas and so Jesus went back to the wild sanctuary where John had been baptizing. Those seeking to kill Him stayed in their places of power, but the people followed Him. In that place many believed. Camp is a step away. Away from town. Away from the cares and concerns of everyday life. Away from struggles and fears. Sometimes all it takes for a soul to start to open, to begin to question and seek God, is a step away.

This picture was taken on our family’s mother’s day hike on a remote road outside the camp. The setting just shouts of the glories of God does it not? I can see why those ancient seekers, upon finding Christ in His remote retreat, placed their trust in Him. In the quiet of the Jordan River, they could finally hear His voice. They journeyed away and they found their Lord. This is what we seek to accomplish at camp. To provide just such an experience for modern day seekers.

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Pray for us.

Summer approaches so very quickly and one can never be fully prepared for all that a summer of camp entails. 

Pray for our camp speakers. That they would be given the words and wisdom that the children in their particular camp need. That they will find a way to explain the Gospel clearly (and quickly, children have short attention spans) and in a way that these little hearts can absorb. Pray that they would be given special insight for this task. It is never easy.

Pray for our camp cooks and kitchen staff. So much of what makes camp a safe and loving place comes from the kitchen. The laugh or smile given to a child by a busy kitchen worker at just the right time. Good food served with Love. Patience in the heat of business. A strange mixture of leftovers saved for a fun game. They say the kitchen is the heart of the home…we see something similar at camp as well. Pray for the hardworking staff who do so much more than provide food.

Pray for the camp counselors.

Senior Counselors, Junior Counselors, Counselors In Training. All of these need your prayers, right now and all summer long, and into the days past camp that can be a struggle as well. So often, your camp counselor makes the difference between a fabulous week of camp and a terrible experience. Pray for these young people as they are trained on June 20th through the 25th. Pray for them as they serve day and night for the week or weeks that they are working. Pray for wisdom as they must lovingly deal with rowdiness and shyness, kids who want to bully and kids who want to disappear, children who are homesick and children who would love to take over and run camp their own way. Children who know all about the Bible and think there is nothing new to learn and children who have never looked up a verse on their own. Pray for the C.I.T.’s who are plunging into the world of camp for the first time. Pray for the Junior Counselors who are supporting their leading counselor. Pray for the Senior Counselors who must make the decisions in the cabin. Pray that the Lord would give them strength and wisdom and love for each moment as it occurs and that they would remember to seek Him at every juncture. Pray that the Lord would send us the counselors that we need, just the right ones, at just the right time.

Pray for the camp nurses.

That we would have enough volunteers to cover each week of camp. Pray for them as they must distinguish between a child who says they are in pain who is really homesick and needs some motherly TLC and a child who really should go home but is hiding their pain in order to stay at camp. Camp nurses must keep track of all that baffling medication, from simple vitamins to powerful medicines that must be consumed exactly two hours before food but never after exercise or before eating broccoli. So much of camp nursing is the giving out of hugs and bandages to kids who are missing the normal routine of home. Pray that our nurses have wisdom to see when a child needs a little extra care, even when the wound is not urgent. The camp nurse is also on the lookout for that occasional serious medical issue that must be addressed with speed and skill. Pray for them, the health of an entire camp can be a heavy lode to bear.  

Pray for our summer interns.

Pray for them as they leap into an entire summer of ministry doing everything under the sun from planning and implementing a game that involves pickles, mayonnaise, and a gallon of lunch punch, to running program, sitting in on cabin discussions, praying with the counsel staff, doing back-breaking maintenance, to even counseling a cabin if the need arises. 

Pray for the permanent staff. For Choco as he keeps everything working in the summer heat, drives bus, and leaps into any and every situation with patience and skill. Pray for Pippen as he works on program and grounds and paintball and perhaps even counsels. Pray as he works pretty much wherever we need him. Pray for Scruffy as the weight of the summer and all that we pray to accomplish rests on him. There is never time to do everything. Pray that the tasks The Lord wants accomplished this summer would rise to the forefront and be achieved in God’s power and for His glory. Pray for Scruffy as he trains the staff and leads them and provides wisdom and support for each cabin and counselor.

Pray for the campers. There is such a boundless variety of children who come to camp. The brand new camper taking that first big step away from a safe and loving home for the first time. Frightened to spend a whole week somewhere new but braving the adventure all the same. The child who escapes a war zone at home and is running to somewhere safe. The child who needs to learn to listen to his cabin mates and the child who needs to learn to open his heart and speak. Pray for each and every one. That the Lord will give each of them a friend at camp, a counselor who sees and understands them, a speaker who can open God’s word in a way they comprehend, and a week of safety in which they can simply be children, learning, growing, stretching, but also just having fun.

Pray for us here at Camas Meadows Bible Camp.

This is an impossible task. But with God, the impossible becomes reality and it is to Him that we must seek the strength with which we approach the summer. Stand before His throne with us and be a part of all that He intends to do.

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You know that feeling you get when you step outside, take a deep breath of pine-scented air, and set out down a twisting forest path? Well, scientist have been busily studying exactly what that sensation is and why you feel so much better out in the glorious creation that God made. Here are a few of the things they have found.

Hiking in nature reduces negative obsessive thoughts that can lead to not enjoying the moment, depression, and anxiety. Wilderness walks even reduce neural activity in the area of the brain associated with mental illness. Hiking through the city does not have the same benefits.

Hiking through the forest combined with removal from all technology causes subjects to preform 50% better on creative thinking and problem solving tests.

Playing outside in a natural environment reduces the symptoms of ADHD

Outdoor exercise is good for your body, improves memory loss, helps prevent memory loss, reduces stress, boosts self-esteem, and just makes you feel better.

Hiking is also one of the easiest and least expensive sports you can participate in. So get out into the forest and let God wow you with the beautiful things He has made and the beautiful way that our minds respond to the creations of His hand. Or just come to camp! I can guarantee that campers will leave technology behind, get out into the forest, and have the pleasure of getting a glimpse of God. In their study of the Bible, but also in the amazing world that surrounds us.

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This year we tried something completely new. A day camp over spring break with lessons from the Bible and outdoor survival skills taught my aerospace engineer and 20 year boy scout veteran John (Ranger Halt) Dewsnap. What do you think? Do these kids have what it takes to survive . . . 

The campers learned about water purification through iodine tablets, pumping, and boiling snow.

Safe fire building. Be sure to dig down to the clay before laying your tinder!

Making paracord survival bracelets, which can be unraveled and used for rope in an emergency situation.

Campsite Cuisine, yum!

Building a group survival shelters using tarp, paracord, and natural resources.

Building individual Survival Shelters using whatever resources the area provides.

Princess Leia Freyja wishes that someone would let her inside their survival shelter. She only knocked down that one wall, and really, it was looking pretty wobbly anyway.

Just getting outside into the beautiful world that God made is always worth the effort.

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CamasCon is a retreat designed to get Christian gamers together for fun and fellowship as well as learning from God’s word. This year Chris (VanHelsing) Weedin challenged the campers from the Bible during chapel sessions and everyone challenged one another to some intense and friendly competition during open gaming time. 

Creating an epic heroscape battlefield.

Yes, sometimes we do use that picture where you posed goofy for the camera…because the other one was blurry.

Yep, sometimes you just want to sit with the big guys and make the miniatures fight each other while they play the game.

But the real question of the weekend, who will marry Mr. Darcy?

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Camas Kids Camp finished out our winter camping season with some singing and snow tubing and one or two crazy camp games. 

Of course Princess Leia came over to make sure that the children had a fuzzy friend to hold in the calmer moments when they weren’t…

Wrestling their camp counselor! There is a counselor under there, right? 

A chapel lesson from the fun and fabulous Pippin and some more singing. This was just the right length for a taste of camp for those kids who are wondering if they want to visit for an entire week this summer. What is your favorite part of camp? Singing, night games, inside games, hugging the dog, the tubing hill, attacking the counselors, chapel, eating, more singing…

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Scruffy sent me a fascinating article from The Huff Post this week. It concerned Kim John Payne’s book, Simplicity Parenting and the effect of an endless excess of activities and toys on the mental health of children. Payne noticed a similarity between the children in refugee camps that he worked with as a young man and affluent modern day youngsters he encountered in his private practice. 

“Payne conducted a study in which he simplified the lives of children with attention deficit disorder. Within four short months 68 per cent went from being clinically dysfunctional to clinically functional. The children also displayed a 37 per cent increase in academic and cognitive aptitude, an effect not seen with commonly prescribed drugs like Ritalin.”

So there you have it, research to back up what my mom told my brother and I so many times growing up. “Just go outside.” Whenever we started to argue or gripe or complain of boredom, she would hurry us out the door for some good old-fashioned unstructured play.

This article notes that–“Even two hours per week of unstructured play boosted children’s creativity to above-average levels.”

I can’t help but smile as I picture the summer camp schedule in my head. There are chapel times, structured games, and meal times of course, but also free time and station time where kids mosey around the camp grounds playing mini golf, archery, and ping pong. There is the chance to dunk a counselor in the dunk tank or take a turn on the slip-n-slide, but also time to walk through the meadow and look at flowers and bugs, to listen to bird song, and to collect great armfuls of lichen for no apparent reason whatsoever. Camp contains clear times of unstructured play. Simple things, but important nonetheless. Friends, food, and the beauty of the outdoors. These are some of the best things of life.

So what about you?

When was the last time you made things simple, went outside, and just enjoyed all the beauties that God has made? Apparently, God designed us to need the simple things in life and of that I am glad. A walk in the woods, a tree fort build out of old plywood, or watching a beetle skitter across the path. I for one, would not want  to miss out.

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