A Walk Around the Lake!

If you have never been to SpringHill’s overnight camp in Indiana you are really missing something.  It is one of the most gorgeous places on earth.  And better yet, we have some of the best staff here creating life changing experiences for over 2200 campers this summer.

My wife Denise and I are spending the week here, staying at the guest house – Acorn Pointe (check out the view we have from the house), and watching camp happen.  We do this each summer. It gives us time together and also the opportunity to be with our Indiana staff, campers and supporters.

One of my favorite things  to do while I’m here is to walk around the our 55 acre lake. I’m able to see, hear and feel camp.  I’ve learned over the 13 summers with SpringHill that I can gauge how camp is going by walking around and observing.

I watch and listen to staff and campers as they are walking to and from their activities.  I look to see their countenance, how are they interacting with each other, are there stragglers, is there a pep in their step?

Campers spend their entire day with their cabin mates and counselors.  Our goal is to create an intimate community within the cabin area. These relationships are the context within which we share spiritual truth with our campers.

This week, on one hot and muggy afternoon walk around Rust Lake, Denise and I could hear singing coming from across the dam. As we looked we could see a group of TSTer’s (our high school campers) walking towards us.  There was certainly a pep in their step.  They were obviously enjoying their time together.

It’s in these simple moments that the relations, so key to the camper’s openness to spiritual truth and ultimately to Christ, are developed.  As we walked by these campers and their counselors Denise and I quietly prayed (another thing I can do as I walk) that God would use this community to help these campers to know and grow in their relationship with Jesus.