This week we are privileged to hear from a\u00a0long time friend and counselor Gorp. I’ve been waiting with bated breath\u00a0for Gorp to write something for the blog. So glad he did!<\/p>\n
Written by Steven Whitham, camp name: Gorp.<\/span><\/p>\n Nearly a year ago, Kristen asked me to write about how Camas Meadows had affected my life.\u00a0 It has taken me that long to put my thoughts to page.\u00a0 The truth is, writing this was a daunting task because I don\u2019t like opening up to anyone and everyone.\u00a0 At the same time, Camas Meadows means too much for me <\/span>to relay anything less than what\u2019s really on my heart.<\/span><\/p>\n So allow me lend you my eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n I first attended Camas Meadows when I was 13 as a camper.\u00a0 Like many other things in my life, my insistent mother pressured me into going.\u00a0 Not that I was opposed to going, just apathetic about it.\u00a0 And like so many other things in my life, I\u2019m afterwards glad my mother is so insistent.\u00a0 That first week changed my life forever in a positive way.\u00a0 Since that year, I attended Camas Meadows once more as a camper, 3 times as a counselor including a summer where I worked every week.\u00a0 My last time working as staff, I took leave from the Army to work at camp.<\/span><\/p>\n In order to explain what Camas Meadows means to me, I should explain a few things about myself.\u00a0 For those who don\u2019t know me, understand that I am naturally introverted.\u00a0 I usually only share with a very select few.\u00a0 For those who do know me, this will set some context. <\/span><\/p>\n I am an Army captain, having deployed both to Iraq and Afghanistan.\u00a0 My last assignment was leading a group of men whose primary responsibility was tracking human beings<\/i> to be killed or captured.\u00a0 70-80 hour workweeks at home, 90-100 hour workweeks while deployed, kept me underweight 20-25lbs from the stress.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lost friends, seen inhumane things I won\u2019t share on this blog, sent men into combat and nearly lost one in a firefight (a distance of 2 inches saved his life), while folks at home debate whether what we\u2019re doing is even moral.\u00a0 (By the way, my experience is tame in comparison to most.)<\/span><\/p>\n When Jesus needed rest, he went to the garden.\u00a0 Camas Meadows is my garden.\u00a0 In a world gone berserk, Camas Meadows remains a place where everything is, in a word, right.<\/i> \u00a0Every time my life turns upside down, Camas Meadows is my refuge.\u00a0 It\u2019s where I go to take a life pause, catch my breath, and heal. Never underestimate the power of safe haven.<\/span><\/p>\n When I need God most, I find Him at Camas Meadows.<\/span><\/p>\n Camas Meadows Bible Camp is a place where all the world\u2019s distractions melt away and God meets you where you are.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a \u201clost\u201d soul, God finds you.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a Christian with lost direction, God will light your path.\u00a0 If you\u2019re hurting, God enters your wounds.\u00a0 In my time there, I have had the privilege of leading others to Christ, but also sitting speechless, giving only the gift of my shoulder as others show me their shattered hearts just hoping someone, anyone<\/i>, will understand.\u00a0 And I have witnessed miracles, physical and spiritual, personal and otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n The most profound snapshots in time occur around the campfire at the end of every summer camp week, where kids share what God has done for them that week.\u00a0 For those who have never experienced this, let me paint the picture for you.\u00a0 Sitting in the cold on wooden benches or the grass with blankets, a fire, and embraces of friends for warmth, we look to a sky with stunningly vibrant stars set against a black canvass.\u00a0 Someone brings a guitar and we sing praises to God for His creation and His love.\u00a0 Everyone is exhausted after a week of fun and\/or tears, too tired to keep their guard up but discovering they no longer need to.\u00a0 Worship becomes pure, authentic, and unashamed.\u00a0 One by one, people stand up, toss a piece of kindling into the fire, and speak what\u2019s on their mind.\u00a0 Some speak for only a few seconds, thanking God or the counselors for the friendships they\u2019ve made and the fun they\u2019ve had at camp.\u00a0 Others share at length the most heartbreaking stories ever uttered aloud.\u00a0 Some proclaim joyfully their decision to accept Christ into their hearts.\u00a0 Some recommit their lives to Him on the spot.\u00a0 In that moment, all doubt about the week is stripped away.\u00a0 Counselors who have poured themselves out like a drink offering understand, perhaps for the first time, their role in God\u2019s work that week. It\u2019s beautiful. It\u2019s right<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n I once had a conversation with some wonderful Christian men who were unsure whether to support the camp because they felt its mission was incorrect.\u00a0 They believed every ministry should focus on \u201creaching the lost\u201d and any ministry that wasn\u2019t focusing its efforts that way was not worth supporting.\u00a0 As much as I love these men, I respectfully disagree with every fiber of my being. They were more interested in a quantitative conversion count than qualitative ministry.\u00a0 I get it.\u00a0 Christ\u2019s Great Commission was about making disciples.\u00a0 But folks, we are fooling ourselves as Christians if we believe we don\u2019t need ministering, ourselves.\u00a0 The camp\u2019s motto since I\u2019ve been there has been \u201cplanting and watering.\u201d Again: right.<\/i>\u00a0 I love the metaphor.\u00a0 God does the work; we are His tools.\u00a0 He adds to His family, and He recovers His prodigal children.<\/span><\/p>\n The ministry of Camas Meadows does not end with their summer camps, or even rental camps.\u00a0 I have participated whenever possible in CamasCon, a Christian board gaming convention where about 35-50 stereotypically introverted geeks of all ages sit around tables and throw themselves into different worlds, powered by shared imagination and confusing rulebooks.\u00a0 Talk about becoming all things to all men!\u00a0 It\u2019s a time of fellowship, fun, and healing.\u00a0 Imagine working every day, struggling to live in a world with people who don\u2019t understand you, and yourself being naturally disinclined to let others in.\u00a0 But two weekends a year, you have a place and a time to meet others like you; with whom you don\u2019t have to pretend, who know you before you even meet them, where you don\u2019t have to live by everyone else\u2019s rules.\u00a0 Again, tired of keeping up your guard but discovering it\u2019s not necessary.\u00a0 Then God meets you there, in the company of believers.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to describe the experience to those who have never been to it, harder still to describe it to those for whom CamasCon is not an attractive retreat (which is most people; we get it).<\/span><\/p>\n I love Camas Meadows.\u00a0 I love the people, I love the ministry. I love that the religion there is merely Christian as CS Lewis describes.\u00a0 I love the facility, I love God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 I love God\u2019s servants, I love his broken children.\u00a0 I love the Christian I am when I\u2019m there, and the Christian I am when I re-enter the world. <\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think my words here adequately express my feelings, but I\u2019m already well over double the word count Kristen asked me to limit myself to, so I\u2019ll wrap this up.\u00a0 I hope those of you reading this will have a greater appreciation of the ministry of Camas Meadows Bible Camp.\u00a0 Much of the ministry that happens there cannot be quantified, but it is as powerful as any other.\u00a0 Camas Meadows has certainly impacted my life, and for that I remain forever grateful.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This week we are privileged to hear from a\u00a0long time friend and counselor Gorp. I’ve been waiting with bated breath\u00a0for Gorp to write something for the blog. So glad he did! Written by Steven Whitham, camp name: Gorp. Nearly a … Continue reading