Camp Memories
Hi All,
So I suppose for those of you who saw my tweet/facebook post Friday night you are wondering what happened? Well my offer was accepted and my closing day is in a month! Ah! I keep sort of laughing about it because I am excited/nervous and because the house is lovely. I am excited for it to be mine. And excited that some of the things that I have always dreamed about but never even dared to dream out loud about them are in this house. God knows. And he is good. Not going to lie, it feels pretty good to see the goodness of this gift right off the bat. Blown away by him.
Something else that is going on is that Senior Camp is starting today and it is weird for me to not be there. I still believe being done for now is the best decision for me but I do feel the ache of not being there. But instead of dwelling on that I thought I would share some of my favorite memories through the years of being out there. Also warning this could get long because when I talk about camp sometimes it is hard for me to stop talking because of the people and because of how God has shown up to me there.
I guess the first memory that comes to mind would be the prank war that I was involved in in 2003. I was a dish girl at senior camp and the boys in cabin four began stealing stuff from the kitchen. Somehow I got involved in stealing stuff back even though I wanted nothing to do with any of it. It was a whole week thing and even though the shy, introverted side of me kept saying get out of this however you can I am glad it happened. Though I do not often talk to many of those boys still that is how I met my brother Kenny and even though we are opposites I am very thankful for his presence in my life.
Actually Kenny is a part of many of my favorite camp memories in part because he always makes you feel like you are important and you matter. The summer I moved back from Arizona I was very sick. I had recently been put on the transplant list and as mom often puts it I looked like a skeleton with skin on. I would eat and then run to the bathroom with diarrhea because my body was doing so horribly. At the time I was telling people I was down 20 pounds because I didn't want them to worry about the reality that I was down 40 pounds. Even though everything was a struggle I wanted so badly to be out at camp counseling so I was. But getting out of bed everyday was a bigger struggle than normal. I was counseling with mom and Kenny as per usual was counseling in cabin 4. In the morning after the girls in our cabin got ready mom would have Kenny come up to the cabin to basically help give me encouragement to get out of bed. Making me laugh, reminding me why I was there. Even though I don't remember all of it clearly I am grateful for those precious moments with him in the morning telling me I could get out of bed. A not so fun memory from that year but one that I can look back on now and see both how crazy I was and how strong - we lost power for a few days. And with having to run to the bathroom with diarrhea that is zero fun. Well one morning I didn't quite make it in time. So I yelled out the door to the girls hanging out in front of the staff cabins to get my mom. Somewhere between that and her getting there I briefly passed out. And then mom had to help me wash up with a bucket of water since again no power. Now we had friends that lived close by and I could have gone there to shower. But I told her then and I still believe it today that "If I leave I am not going to want to come back." And I would have missed some pretty great moments and some great teaching opportunities. It was and still is a very clear reminder that God can still use us even when we are broken.
The year after that we would do dialysis out at camp. Basically mom and I are crazy and don't always admit our limits. But again God used that. What was good for me was to see how many people wanted to see what we did 5 days of the week. Also it was fun when Kenny found out we were bringing it out because I would be on dialysis for three hours and I recall him saying something like "You mean I get to nap for three hours int he afternoon!" We set up the machine in the women's staff cabin which is also often the nurses cabin and even if he wasn't in the bed next to me when I fell asleep he was always there when I woke up. That was a nice feeling. And a few of my brother did that at home and even were at the hospital when I was on dialysis. A few other people stopped by the house to support mom and I to see what we did and encourage us. That love and support is something I will always be grateful for. There were some hard days and doing that out at camp was not at all easy. But the people who love us getting excited about things or encouraging us on left a big impact on my heart.
So I was writing these memories down in church today and one of the things I wrote down was leading music with Gary, all of it. Every moment was beautiful. When Gary came aboard he asked names of people who were on the team or who would help and even though I hadn't really been on the team in like a year not really by choice someone told Gary "Abby." And that was it. Gary trusting me to lead helped me learn to trust myself and my voice. I remember it happening sort of slowly. That Gary would step away from the mic in the middle of a line and I recall looking over at him like why are you leaving me!?! Ha! But as time went on I became less scared and more sure largely in part because Gary trusted me. That will always be a big deal to me. Also for me there were a lot of moments when God made himself known in small ways to me through that. Like the times when I had never heard a song before but knew it out of nowhere like I had been singing it since birth. I recall that happening very clearly with the song Exalted (Yahweh) by Tomlin. And I also recall part of the song being very quiet and just Gary and I leading. Sometimes that would happen during practice. Where the rest of the team would be doing whatever because we messed around a lot during practice but where Gary and I would start singing a song together and sometimes everyone else would slowly join in sometimes they would not. But for me there were some moments in those practices and it those times of leading that felt scared. Like we unworthy being were standing in the throne room bringing the only offering we could. I also recall feeling that way a few times when we would practice with Gar leading because Gary had to head into work. My brother Gar also trusted me to lead and at times to know songs better than him. I recall at least a handful of times in practice with Gar leading him turning to me and saying "How does this go again?" Loved those moments with him. And still love thinking about him leading because I would tell him "Come on. Your coming to practice. Let's go. Up to the chapel." Haha. I still don't know if at the time he wanted that but at the time I had decided "I am your sister and I see this in you so you don't get to say no." Man I'm obnoxious. Sorry brother but I think it worked out so it's fine.
Ok I have another but it is long so I think I might post about it next week since I already feel bad about how long this post is.
For those who are campers treasure these moments and write them down so that you can remember them. Years later you will look back and say "See, God is good all the time. Look at what he has done." And continue to build on those friendships made at camp. Those friends will speak Gods truth into your life time and time again in the good and bad. Friends like that are priceless.
For those of you who have served out at camp or on the camp board or supported campers in going or faithfully prayed for camp - Thank you. What we all do is changing lives and is helping call people home into the arms of our loving, good, good father.
So I suppose for those of you who saw my tweet/facebook post Friday night you are wondering what happened? Well my offer was accepted and my closing day is in a month! Ah! I keep sort of laughing about it because I am excited/nervous and because the house is lovely. I am excited for it to be mine. And excited that some of the things that I have always dreamed about but never even dared to dream out loud about them are in this house. God knows. And he is good. Not going to lie, it feels pretty good to see the goodness of this gift right off the bat. Blown away by him.
Something else that is going on is that Senior Camp is starting today and it is weird for me to not be there. I still believe being done for now is the best decision for me but I do feel the ache of not being there. But instead of dwelling on that I thought I would share some of my favorite memories through the years of being out there. Also warning this could get long because when I talk about camp sometimes it is hard for me to stop talking because of the people and because of how God has shown up to me there.
I guess the first memory that comes to mind would be the prank war that I was involved in in 2003. I was a dish girl at senior camp and the boys in cabin four began stealing stuff from the kitchen. Somehow I got involved in stealing stuff back even though I wanted nothing to do with any of it. It was a whole week thing and even though the shy, introverted side of me kept saying get out of this however you can I am glad it happened. Though I do not often talk to many of those boys still that is how I met my brother Kenny and even though we are opposites I am very thankful for his presence in my life.
Actually Kenny is a part of many of my favorite camp memories in part because he always makes you feel like you are important and you matter. The summer I moved back from Arizona I was very sick. I had recently been put on the transplant list and as mom often puts it I looked like a skeleton with skin on. I would eat and then run to the bathroom with diarrhea because my body was doing so horribly. At the time I was telling people I was down 20 pounds because I didn't want them to worry about the reality that I was down 40 pounds. Even though everything was a struggle I wanted so badly to be out at camp counseling so I was. But getting out of bed everyday was a bigger struggle than normal. I was counseling with mom and Kenny as per usual was counseling in cabin 4. In the morning after the girls in our cabin got ready mom would have Kenny come up to the cabin to basically help give me encouragement to get out of bed. Making me laugh, reminding me why I was there. Even though I don't remember all of it clearly I am grateful for those precious moments with him in the morning telling me I could get out of bed. A not so fun memory from that year but one that I can look back on now and see both how crazy I was and how strong - we lost power for a few days. And with having to run to the bathroom with diarrhea that is zero fun. Well one morning I didn't quite make it in time. So I yelled out the door to the girls hanging out in front of the staff cabins to get my mom. Somewhere between that and her getting there I briefly passed out. And then mom had to help me wash up with a bucket of water since again no power. Now we had friends that lived close by and I could have gone there to shower. But I told her then and I still believe it today that "If I leave I am not going to want to come back." And I would have missed some pretty great moments and some great teaching opportunities. It was and still is a very clear reminder that God can still use us even when we are broken.
The year after that we would do dialysis out at camp. Basically mom and I are crazy and don't always admit our limits. But again God used that. What was good for me was to see how many people wanted to see what we did 5 days of the week. Also it was fun when Kenny found out we were bringing it out because I would be on dialysis for three hours and I recall him saying something like "You mean I get to nap for three hours int he afternoon!" We set up the machine in the women's staff cabin which is also often the nurses cabin and even if he wasn't in the bed next to me when I fell asleep he was always there when I woke up. That was a nice feeling. And a few of my brother did that at home and even were at the hospital when I was on dialysis. A few other people stopped by the house to support mom and I to see what we did and encourage us. That love and support is something I will always be grateful for. There were some hard days and doing that out at camp was not at all easy. But the people who love us getting excited about things or encouraging us on left a big impact on my heart.
So I was writing these memories down in church today and one of the things I wrote down was leading music with Gary, all of it. Every moment was beautiful. When Gary came aboard he asked names of people who were on the team or who would help and even though I hadn't really been on the team in like a year not really by choice someone told Gary "Abby." And that was it. Gary trusting me to lead helped me learn to trust myself and my voice. I remember it happening sort of slowly. That Gary would step away from the mic in the middle of a line and I recall looking over at him like why are you leaving me!?! Ha! But as time went on I became less scared and more sure largely in part because Gary trusted me. That will always be a big deal to me. Also for me there were a lot of moments when God made himself known in small ways to me through that. Like the times when I had never heard a song before but knew it out of nowhere like I had been singing it since birth. I recall that happening very clearly with the song Exalted (Yahweh) by Tomlin. And I also recall part of the song being very quiet and just Gary and I leading. Sometimes that would happen during practice. Where the rest of the team would be doing whatever because we messed around a lot during practice but where Gary and I would start singing a song together and sometimes everyone else would slowly join in sometimes they would not. But for me there were some moments in those practices and it those times of leading that felt scared. Like we unworthy being were standing in the throne room bringing the only offering we could. I also recall feeling that way a few times when we would practice with Gar leading because Gary had to head into work. My brother Gar also trusted me to lead and at times to know songs better than him. I recall at least a handful of times in practice with Gar leading him turning to me and saying "How does this go again?" Loved those moments with him. And still love thinking about him leading because I would tell him "Come on. Your coming to practice. Let's go. Up to the chapel." Haha. I still don't know if at the time he wanted that but at the time I had decided "I am your sister and I see this in you so you don't get to say no." Man I'm obnoxious. Sorry brother but I think it worked out so it's fine.
Ok I have another but it is long so I think I might post about it next week since I already feel bad about how long this post is.
For those who are campers treasure these moments and write them down so that you can remember them. Years later you will look back and say "See, God is good all the time. Look at what he has done." And continue to build on those friendships made at camp. Those friends will speak Gods truth into your life time and time again in the good and bad. Friends like that are priceless.
For those of you who have served out at camp or on the camp board or supported campers in going or faithfully prayed for camp - Thank you. What we all do is changing lives and is helping call people home into the arms of our loving, good, good father.
Comments
Post a Comment