Camp Reflections I.

  This year I had the honor of serving as a counselor at a United Youth Camp.  Camp Cotubic sits just outside the cute small town of Bellefontaine, OH. You go from an old town square surrounded by grand old homes with American flags flying high and gardens tended, to fields and spotty cell service in about two minutes. Here is a place full of green and laughter surrounding a glassy lake that makes the breeze much cooler than it would be without.

  Every year when applying as a camper or a staff member, you are required to answer the question of why you want to come to camp. You have but a few lines to explain this. For some, I suppose, that is quite enough and that’s fine. For me though, I always struggle to put all of my reasoning into a brief explanation. It isn’t the food (though Pinecrest goers may argue), it isn’t because I get to see my friends or meet new people or do another high ropes course. I want to go because of the most overwhelming will to help tend the extensive garden that God has been growing since the dawn of time.

  While I am there to support the campers and cultivate their personalities, nurturing them and guiding them in a safe environment, they often wind up teaching me more than I could possibly digest in a weeks time. The best part is that they don’t realize how amazing and developed they are. There are these little moments when joy paints their faces and I realize that I have to keep going. I have no choice. They are my family.