My friends like to tease me about my obsession with camp. Over the years, they have heard so many camp stories being told and retold by me that they know them almost as well as I do. Whenever I talk about my friends from camp, they know exactly who I'm talking about because I've talked about them so much that they feel like they have known these people for years even though they have never met them. They wouldn't be wrong with saying that I'm obsessed, I am. Camp is on my brain so much that once it's over, I look forward to the next retreat that I get to go to, even if it's months away. I love it, and it's because it's part of what made me me.
When I was eight-years-old, my older cousin convinced me to go to this church camp that neither of us had heard of but our grandparents went to when they were our age. When I got there I was a little apprehensive as to what I should expect. Once I finally got comfortable with everyone in my cabin, I fell in love with that place. Not only did I make friends with people that I would have never met if it weren't for that place, but I started to better understand why it was important for me to love Jesus and trust Him with my life.
Over the years, I started to become more and more in love with this place. By the time I was thirteen I was able to be a junior leader in a cabin. When I was eighteen, the directors of the camp allowed me to be a senior leader and be in charge of my own cabin, and this is when my passion for camp started to kick in. Since then I haven't missed a summer of camp and I become more and more passionate each and every year.
One reason I love it so much is because I get to teach kids about my Jesus, watch them grow in Him, and just become their friend. The kids I work with are awesome. They're sassy, sarcastic, funny, and just all around great kids. I've known some of them since they were eight-years-old, while I've only known some of them for a couple of years. Either way, they're all really great.
Another reason this place is so special to me is because of the amazing people that I have met and become friends with over the years. The people I work with are so fun to be around. They have become lifelong friends (one of them even became my boyfriend) and I wouldn't trade them for anything.
The final reason, and the most important reason, I am so passionate about camp is because it is the place where my relationship with Christ has grown the most. During times in my life where I was not living for Him and I fell from the faith, I was still going to camp and still having people from there pour into my life. If it hadn't been for camp and the people there, it probably would have been a whole lot harder to find my way back to Jesus. Camp was one of the best tools God used to get me to come back to Him.
So yes, I am obsessed with camp, but I have very good reasons for the obsession.
