The speaker’s theme during chapel sessions this week was SPLAT!

We spend a lot of time teaching Christian kids what to do and what not to do. Read your Bible, don’t kill anyone, pray, and avoid soul-squelching hatred. But we don’t always spend much time telling them what to do once a mistake (a splat) has been made. Believe me, the Bible has a whole lot to say about this. There are some epic splats, contained therein. Even better, there are stories of redemption and victory despite those splats. 

During the week Faramir, the speaker, told the campers about several famous people in the Bible who experienced major SPLATS. There are so many examples of epic failures in the Bible, failures that should have sidelined those individuals forever. Then God stepped in to take an impossible situation and actually wring some beauty and good out of the whole mess. The apostle Peter came up a lot. 

I interviewed one camper who said that his favorite things about the week were paintball and the final chapel.
During paintball, he and a cabin mate joined Dauntless, one of the counselors, in an epic battle. Their team only had three players left and the other team had six. This camper was out of CO2 and Dauntless was out of paint. The camper gave Dauntless a few of his paint balls and together all three of them rushed in to face a team that doubled them in numbers. With their last few shots before being overwhelmed, they took out the other teams top three players, making them even and earning a draw. The camper said that they considered it a victory, for though they were outnumbered and low on resources, they faced the bigger team and came away with a tie.

Then during the last chapel, Faramir gave Scruffy a chance to share one of his personal SPLATS. Not a Bible story, but a SPLAT from someone that all the campers knew. Scruffy told the story of how he attempted to impress his girlfriend. He convinced her to ride double on his mountain bike. Then he zoomed wildly down a hill toward the highway, sure that she would be deeply amazed. She was. After they spent the afternoon in the emergency room getting a bunch of stitches for the incredibly nasty hole in her knee that allowed one to view the various gears at work as she moved that limb, she even forgave him. In fact, she even married him. However, Scruffy cannot say the words “Trust Me” without getting “The Look” as those were the fateful words he spoke right before they crashed.

Four campers came to know Christ this week and many others learned the incredible lesson that God has offered us a chance to belong to Him even thought we will SPLAT. Even after we SPLAT again, He is waiting for us to run into His arms and accept His forgiveness.

Boo Boo

Jr. A Camp has come and gone. Princess Leia Freyja (the dog) made many many friends and so did the campers. 

Paintball Wars occurred

The campers had an amazing day in the sun at beautiful Lake Chelan

And Jesus Christ and His love was shared with these kids every single day.

What might just look like skits, meadow games, and racing to eat gummy worms out of a cabin mate’s toes to one person is in actuality love, poured out, all week long.

Campers step away from the TV and venture out into God’s creation. They have 24 hour access to a group of fun and amazing teens and college students, all week long. They are listened to, focused on, and challenged. Challenged to try new games and challenged from God’s word through chapel times and individual cabin devotionals.

Maybe they brave the dunk tank for the first time or learn where to find Luke in the Bible.

Perhaps they encounter the quiet miracle of kindness and new friendship or the amazing glory of meeting Jesus as their personal Savior. We had six girls and one boy pray to become Christ’s children this week and many more who were encouraged in their faith and enjoyed a week full of friendship and fun. 

At campfire, the children were given a chance to stand up and share what they had seen God doing during the week. Campers told of accepting Christ, seeing God in the little things, and having God help them overcome their fear of the horseback rides. Little things and big things, done well, done for His glory. This is what we strive to accomplish here at camp.

God is gracious. He uses our efforts, both big and small, for the glory of His kingdom. 

Boo Boo

These are the shoes belonging to the Sr. High camp counselors. At 7:00 am these weary volunteers stagger into Choco’s house with a ragged collection of snuggly blankets and half-full coffee mugs. They kick off their shoes at the door and pile onto the couch. As they meet and pray and study the schedule for the day, their feet are bare. Think about that for a moment.

Bare.

We humans are careful to cover ourselves. We cover our bodies with clothing. We cover our feet in shoes. We cover our hearts from the dangers around us and our souls from bruising and pain. Those scattered shoes remind me of something amazing that can happen. Something that occurred this week at camp. Yes, we have been covering ourselves since the beginning of time, since Adam and Eve clutched leaves to themselves in the garden to cover their shame. But once in a while, when one feels heard and safe and loved, a person will stand tall and honest and bare.

No, I am not advocating that we rush out and start a nudist colony. I am observing the spiritual journey of camper after camper, counselor after counselor, and speaker after speaker. Watching the way that feeble seedlings of faith stretch and grow. I am watching baby Christians become tall and strong, mighty young trees that can weather the storm. This process chokes out and withers away unless the soul is bared.

We cover ourselves in more than clothes. Just as a well-cut suit, fashionable gown, or favorite pair of sweatpants can hide our flaws and accentuate our strong points, sometimes the Christianity we wear is not about pleasing God but about creating an image for those around us. Who really wants to admit that if they stopped smiling, they fear all their friends will abandon them? Who wishes to reveal their constant doubt, addiction, or a deep and roiling hate. If the painted picture of faith were pulled back, would God still have died, for the mess that we are inside, for the real us, the real me?

Yet, for a fledgling faith to grow, one has to actually meet God. Not the image of what they wish they were kneeling in thoughtful prayer. No, the real person, with all their doubts and failings and pain. Bare and broken we must come and kneel before our maker. How can our Creator heal His child if we hide the wound and refuse to bring the broken parts of us to Him?

There is no doubt that the Pharisees and Sadducees needed redemption and healing and yet this is what Jesus told them when they stood before Him in all their perfect religiosity and outward superiority.

Mark 2:17—“On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 21:31—“…’Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”

Why on earth would He say such things to this group of powerful men? Because it wasn’t really them coming before God. They only condescended to bring the perfect image that they had constructed. No, the real man lay beneath the facade and the Pharisees and Sadducees were not willing to expose themselves, even to accept God’s healing.

As I look back over the week, I see an incredible group of teens who have had the courage to stand before God honest and bare.

I sat in on the campfire on Friday night and it was clear that God was dealing with real kids willing to be who and what they actually were. They knew that when we bring Him all the terrible reality of our situation, God inevitably steps forward and makes beauty of our ashes and dust.

I saw the girls’ cabins bonded together through trouble and trial. I saw the steady love of counselors pouring themselves out for their kids. Working late into the night at thankless jobs and arising early in the morning to pray for each teen in their cabin. I saw staff determined to make sure that a counselor who had to leave early could be baptized before she left. Then the unexpected laughter they shared as the camp dog was accidentally baptized along with her is such a picture of the craziness and beauty of this thing we call camp.

We had two boys who were both over six feet tall crash at full speed into each other, both sustained injury. Following the nurse’s orders to stay calm and quiet for the week was torture for these active young men. But when they stood at the campfire, they spoke of how God had brought them a brother and friend in each other, one they would never have found otherwise as they are so different from each other. They spoke of drawing nearer to a strong God in their time of physical weakness. Even this, something we wish we had been able to prevent, God was able to redeem.

So the next time you slip off your shoes and bare your feet, I want you to remember something that I saw these teens live out this week. To meet God, you must show him you, the real you, the one that you hide.

He is eager to heal you, if only you can let go of your feeble coverings and come to Him as what you actually are. Bare, but ready to be healed.

Boo Boo

Nothing at the camp would be here without an amazing group of volunteers who come up twice a year for our annual work retreats. This is how the cabins were built and how the camp has been maintained over the years.

Whether it is scrubbing down chairs

or finishing the trim on the lodge

the efforts of these amazing people are what maintains Camas Meadows Bible Camp.

Of course there is delicious food to keep the workers going.

Whether you are 99 years old like our founder Del on the left

or nine years old, there is a job that is perfect for you.

From those who are hauling wood 

or cutting down any trees that have been killed by Pine Beetles 

to those working high on the camp roof

everyone makes a difference. These guys are patching and preparing the inner tubes for the amazing tube hill this winter.

The speaker’s room had a wonderful remodel that made it look bright and fresh and beautiful as well as taking care of that strange hole in the wall.

From simple needs such as a quick mow job

to filling the camp wood shed to fuel the lodge during the cold winter months

to more complex building projects like remodeling the lodge entrance, the needs of the camp are many and varied, but so are the helpers who come and make this all happen.

Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts. This couldn’t happen without you!

Boo Boo

Spring comes slowly to Camas Meadows. This photo was taken on the last day of March and Camas Creek had just begun to run, signaling the spring melt. 

It starts with a new warmth in the sunlight as it touches your face and the dripping of icicles on the eves. Then the snow begins to look sunken was water starts running deep underneath, feeding the creek. Soon, the rushing waters melt the snow above and Camas Creek is pouring over the small waterfall at the top of the hill. Then patches of bare earth appear on the meadow and soon a blush of green as tender shoots stretch up through the soil.

Before the snows have completely receded, Pine Lilies bloom on the sunniest hillsides proving that all is not dead beneath the frozen ground. I don’t think it was accidental that Christ died and rose in the Spring. As the world around us is proving that winter is not forever and the darkness has not won, God Himself showed His great love. He walked and died among us and then rose, bringing the impossible miracle of spring to the hardened ground of the human heart. Resurrection out of hopelessness, beauty from ashes, and new life from the very mouth of the grave.

May the name of the Lord be praised!

Boo Boo

The Jr. High Winter blast is a time of outdoor refreshment and winter play as well as a place to meet new friends and find solace in the arms of the Lord.

Faramir, our speaker, brought the word of God up close and personal with funny stories as well as tales of the amazing way God steps down into our mess to rescue and restore. He even taught everyone a new word “Ebeneezer” as in a memorial stone not the miserly hero of A Christmas Carol.  . 

From tug-o-war to tubing, late night board games in the lodge to that moment that someone actually convinces you to stick an Oreo cookie on your face, Jr. High Winter Blast was amazing, every day, all the way through.

I had the honor of watching one of my own sons participate and seeing him light up as he told his brothers all about the weekend was a reward in itself.

The camp counselors went out of their way to bring both moments of intense fun as well as quiet contemplation to each of their campers. It was beautiful to watch.

I think we sell God short sometimes when we attempt to list out the different kinds of spiritual gifts that He might use to change our hearts and world. This weekend I definitely saw “Cookie Smooshing” and “Sacrificial Snow Battling” on the list along with a good deal of “Encouragement,” “Teaching,” and “Joyful Giving.” Thank you one and all for making this a fabulous weekend!

Boo Boo

The Summer Staff Winter Retreat occurs the day after Christmas and plays an important role in building our summer staff team for the upcoming year, encouraging former staff in their walk with the Lord, and simply bringing kids together in a fun and safe place where they know that they are loved. One of our girl staff, you may remember her from This Post, was certain that she wouldn’t be able to attend this year. She had to work, didn’t have the money, and honestly wondered if God noticed or cared. Suddenly, things began to shift and change in ways she could not explain. Her boss gave her the days off, she received a monetary gift for the exact amount needed for camp, her Dad and sister made changes to their holiday plans at the last minute. There she was, at camp, sitting with us on the couch, flipping through her Bible with tears in her eyes as she talked about the verses that had spoken to her during those few days together. Do not think for an instant that God has forgotten you. He is at work in so many glorious ways.

Fabulous Bible sessions, amazing worship, and the baring of the soul are important … but weren’t there supposed to be some strange and incredible outdoor team building/get-everyone-soaked-in-snow-so-that-their-hair-is-frozen-into-strange-shapes type activities?

Fear not, Scruffy had that covered as well.

Although, Princess Leia felt that this was an activity she should definitely supervise.

Things got a little chilly and snowy and wet and just a tad bit bumpy.

But there were snow ninjas. 

And the scenery was lovely.

If you could see anything between your snow-crusted lashes

No man was left behind, ie Scruff drove slow enough so that you could catch up if you ran fast enough.

Was “mattress sledding” a success?  

Hmmm … let’s see, snow plastering hair into strange shapes, snow on eyebrows, in ears, eyelashes, is that snow in his nose? The kids were definitely drawn closer together as they clung frantically to the mattress. Looks like a success to me. This my friends is what camp is all about. A strange conglomeration of the most serious things in life all mixed up with the simple pleasures of laughter and friends.

Boo Boo