June 5, 2024

Peter, my son-in-law, fixed the internet problem at 3:30 this morning. HURRAY!!! We are so thankful for his tech savvy (his explanation of the problem was not understood by any of us, but he was very pleased to figure it out with help from the ATT technicians). Expect normal photo uploads today! Also check out today’s Morning Assembly Devotion. It’s awesome!

Today’s Blog theme is friendships and resilience! Everyone likes making friends and everyone needs resilience. The importance of camp friends is a self-evident fact at Greystone. Campers and counselors alike agree that making a new friend enhances their camp experience. It makes an otherwise “fun” day special, so they actively engage in expanding their friend group every day of the week. Camp friends are special, often lasting a lifetime and marked by a depth that is surprisingly different from our other friends at home.

Camp friendships often have a lasting foundation in Christ. Rather than connecting over something superficial (like the brand of clothes we wear), we connect with little acts of kindness in everyday circumstances. We include others when playing, smile when walking to class, take an interest in others rather than just ourselves, and celebrate the moment we have a DMC (Deep, Meaningful Conversation). These bonds are deeply felt and genuinely real and grow stronger with time. Such friendships are easily re-established even after months or years apart. Often, a new best friend is found in the first days of camp when we are most vulnerable. Everyone is a little nervous when they come to camp, this feeling makes a kind gesture from another camper especially special for both girls. A great way to start a friendship.

Nervous feelings are not bad, they lead to resilience and are therefore a good thing! We celebrate these first nervous feelings of adjustment at camp. Such feelings are easily overcome. Learn to master that feeling and you will confidently master most new situations you are thrown into.

Until Christ returns and makes all things new, there will never be perfect experiences, perfect people, perfect ANYTHINGS. This lack of perfection forces us to adjust to the imperfections constantly, which makes us feel bad. But we can overcome these feelings with the perspective and help of Christ. He brings good out of all things, and is with us in all things! No matter how many bad things we face, we can find just as many good things to celebrate. So when we focus on the good we will feel better. We respond by leaning into the “good”, trusting God, and overcoming our feelings. We develop resilience.

Resilience is a character trait all great campers develop. It is a character trait of all great leaders. It is a character trait of any joyful life. This character trait shows perspective and wisdom, but it is not how we are naturally wired. I am sure all of you know our tendency to have a “negative bias” in life. We can’t help but dwell on an insult or fixate on mistakes. Criticisms have a greater impact than compliments; bad news frequently draws more attention than good.

The reason for this (as many of you know) is that negative events have a greater impact on our brains than positive ones. Psychologists refer to this as “negative bias”, which can have a powerful effect on your behavior, decisions, and even relationships. Camp is where we learn to swap a negative bias with a positive one. Those who perfect this skill are resilient for the rest of their life. They engage in new and difficult situations with confidence and a smile; making the best of every circumstance no matter what.

It starts with waking up (clap your hands and say it’s going to be a great day) and continues at Breakfast Club (the joke is always important… I will share the jokes this year so you can ask about them if you want). We enjoy Morning Assembly (dancing to fun praise music and a quick devotion), AND ONLY THEN do we go to classes. A lot of time is spent on getting our attitudes right… and it works.

Camp is a place of enormous positive energy, marked by kindness and love, a place of smiles and meaningful conversations. In such a setting, we become more resilient. It is a wonderful reason to send your children to camp! I wish all children had this opportunity… it can change a life.

• Breakfast Club Joke* S-Car-Go.
• Breakfast: Pancakes and Sausage
• Lunch: Roast Beef Sandwiches, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Dinner: Pork Chops, Cheese Ravioli, Apple Sauce
• WEATHER:* Overcast, 78 degrees, good chance of rain at rest hour

Lightning… NC has the second-highest lightning strikes of any state in America (Florida is #1). We have prepared the camp to be a safe place in a storm:

• A great lightning detection and warning system (Perry Weather) that lets us know if a storm is about to hit. We have found it to be very accurate.
• Lightning Rods on our tallest trees… We have grounded the biggest trees around the lower campus. Thus, when lightning hits our trees (where it usually strikes), it is immediately routed through a thick cable into the earth and is not a problem.
• Protocols… we have dealt with lightning storms in a camp setting for a hundred years!

These storms usually last about 20 minutes and provide a great time to play games and get to know each other. These unexpected moments often end up being a favorite memory from the summer!

Thank you for checking in! I hope you are having a GREAT DAY!