camp

The girl and I have been busy figuring out some of the last minute things she will need for camp. She leaves Sunday evening.

A lady that we’ve both known since our single days is going as a chaperone and one of the cooks for camp. She was on Facebook today reminiscing about what camp used to be versus was it will be for this group of kids. She didn’t go to the same camp I did, but I think a lot of our experiences are similar.

We went to more than one camp over the years I was in youth group.  Now they call it student ministry.  But whatev’s. One of the camps was pretty close to home. It had air conditioning even though it was pretty rustic otherwise. The auditorium was also very dated with shag carpets, but it was also indoors. I went there when I was a good bit younger than my girl and I don’t have as many memories of the place.

In the later years, we went to a place in  Arkansas. I think we went there two or three years in a row when I was an older high school ‘student’. There was a creek that separated the girls dorms from the boys. There was a swimming pool with a bridge in the between. There was no mixed swimming. As a matter of fact, the opposite sex wasn’t even allowed on the bridge nearby during swimming times.  The dorms were very crude and I think there were only 3 or 4 potties to a group of a couple dozen girls. Yeah. And we didn’t have real A/C..only evaporative coolers. Talk about sticky and hot. And the sanctuary was open air too.

I looked them up online the other day and they just built a “state of the art” sanctuary, all indoors, and air conditioned, for sure. I just don’t think it would be the same.

My girl leaves Sunday night for camp in Alabama. She’s never been to camp before at all and she doesn’t know these kids very well. So she’s very excited but a little nervous at the same time. They’re staying in condos on the beach.  I did read online today that they aren’t recommending that people go in the water at her beach, but the beach itself is still open. As is the pool adjacent to the condo.  They will travel by bus to a local church in the mornings and evenings for church and have their meals etc as a ‘family’ in their condos.

Sounds pretty fancy compared to way it was ‘back in the day’.

**Also please pray for traveling safety for our group. They are going to be traveling through the night on buses and that makes me a little leery, if you know what I mean. On the return trip, they will travel all day long, which doesn’t make me as nervous as somebody driving throughout the night.