Thus Begins Week Three

Cooler temperatures, afternoon rain showers, trips out of camp, great food, amazing music, and friends. That sums it up!

Firstly, allow me to introduce you to our new Favorite couple: Drew and Ellie Holcomb. They are Emmy winning singer/song writer couple that are very special to our community. Last year they came for the first time… their concert on the lawn was one of my favorite memories of the entire summer. They agreed to return, and stay for an entire week; so expect to be hearing a lot of their music at home and in the car this Fall.

Drew and Ellie are really cute, really talented, and really comfortable in the camp setting. Also (in a fact that the girls just LOVE) Ellie is expecting their first child! And it’s a GIRL!!! The campers are thrilled to have them hanging out with us, for that is the way camp works. Become one of us by living with us for a long time… SO—- They are eating their meals in the dining hall all, speaking at morning assembly, singing for cabin groups, and participating in classes. They are here till Friday, life is good!

The heat wave is officially over. The air just feels cooler today (it felt cooler during our concert last night as well… as the sun sank and turned the sky pink and the clouds blue/black… heaven… sigh). We have a high chance of afternoon rain showers all week long; so just as the temperatures get into the mid-80’s, the rain comes and cools us by 10 degrees with a 30 minute thunder-storm. By weeks end, the highs will be in the upper 70’s.

I am going to get serious for a minute, sorry if you didn’t want serious right now… but it is important.

Our Breakfast Club topic today was on being “Fearfully and Wonderfully made”. It was an emotional one for me. I actually teared up for a moment… a brief moment (Drew and Ellie were there, you can imagine that in such a moment it anchors the emotions to have a “stranger” looking at you). This topic is emotional for me because it is a raw nerve; a nerve that should make each of us sensitive.

Ours is a society that puts an amazing pressure on young women. These girls grow up fast… too fast. They are given physical standards of beauty that are impossible to reach (who actually looks like a super model?). These impossible physical standards sometimes become the “ULTIMATE” standard of self worth… they often become the standard… and it crushes the spirits of our daughters. They feel inadequate, ugly, fat. They think their nose is too big or too small. Their fingers, wrists, elbows… good grief! With such attention, nobody (including the super model) is actually happy with the way God made them.

This is wrong. This is sinful. It is narcissistic and never leads to good.

At breakfast club there is a sincere joy evident in the faces of these girls. They are full of joy, flush from the breakfast club song and “dance” and clap and shouts. They are happy and not thinking about themselves at all… they are simply enjoying the moment. Life should be like this.

God made us the way we are… in HIS IMAGE. He knows the hairs on our head, has called us by name… and He declares us to be beautiful. C.S. Lewis in an essay said that once we have been glorified in our eternal state, we will be fully what God made us to be… brightly shining image bearers of God… If we saw ourselves now in that state, we would want to fall down and worship that glorified person. This is what we actually are… this body only lasts a few years; our identity is not tied to the way we look for a brief moment… it is in Christ alone.

At camp we gradually lose our self-consciousness (at least every now and then). We get a glimpse of how wonderful life can be. I just wish it would last.

Some girls leave this place transformed… others just have a fond memory… still others leave with no impact whatsoever. I wish that on this point (at least) EVERY girl would be transformed.

Lunch today is Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. Dinner is TACO IN A BAG PICNIC!!! Taco in a bag is a genius meal (Taco meat, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa… AND a bag of Frito’s). You can literally do this meal for a hundred people; it is easy and it is REALLY good. The campers love it.

Movie Night is the EP. We will have a big movie on Apple Hill for the rising 10th graders, another movie is shown in the Pavilion (lots of room to spread out) and a special choice for the youngest campers in White Hall. The Seniors are going to Greenville with Laura & Gervais, and Margaret & me. All 90 of us will go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, to Barnes and Noble to do some shopping, and to the movie theater… we won’t get back home till Midnight… it is glorious fun! The girls LOVE it with a passion… a real celebration.

Thank you for reading the updates… for loving your girls so much. They are amazing. Write them this week and let them know how special they are… especially you dads out there. That is my suggestion for the day!

Jimboy