10,000 Kamp Blessings

September 28, 2012

While I was driving in the car the other day, my niece and my daughter were in the backseat talking.  I heard one say to the other, “I miss camp.”  My heart warmed.  Every year, camp is the third week of June and here it is the end of September and they are missing camp.  We must be doing something right.  Of course, in saying that I recognize we can’t take most of the credit.  God works through every single person, camper and staff, to make camp special and memorable.

We call the camp “Kamp Koinonia.”  Yes, camp with a “K.”  That then makes all the campers “Kampers” and the cooks “Kooks.”  Koinonia means “communion by intimate participation.”  Is there a more perfect name for a church camp where 100 people spend a solid 7 days eating, sleeping, sitting, playing, worshipping, and sweating together? The fellowship triangle is always at work at camp.  As we focus on God and draw near to Him, we draw nearer to each other.

You Me

Just a few minutes after the comment, a song titled, “10,000 Reasons,” came on the radio and, from the backseat, I heard, “Awww.  The wake up song.”  The truth is I miss camp too.  There are so many great memories made every year.  This year, on our way up to camp the day before it started, Lila and I realized we both loved the same new song, “10,000 Reasons.”  I love it because I never really thought about how my soul praising the Lord blesses Him.  It’s a new perspective for me.

Then, of course, we couldn’t get it off our minds.  We sang it all the time…well the parts that we knew…and sometimes on key.  We would go around asking people, “Hey, do you know the song ’10,000 Reasons’?”  Much to our delight, they never did.  So we sang it to them.  I think (well, I’m pretty sure) we got more enjoyment out of it than they did.  At one point, after just a short day or two, when we asked some poor unsuspecting soul our question, Kelsey muttered, “Just tell’em you know it.”  It makes me laugh to this day!

Then Judy, another of the girls’ counselors, found it on her iPod and she had small speakers to play it on.  Every morning, she would come in playing it on the speakers to wake everyone up.  Thus, “the wake up song.”  It is a song that will forever have this association for me.

Camp is hard work.  There are months and months of preparation.  It takes a staff of about 30 adults to make it work.  It’s hot.  It’s sweaty.  It’s exhausting.  It’s sleep-depriving.  And, it’s one of the best weeks of the year.