The "Camp High"; Good or bad?

Since I work for a camp, I often get the following feedback (something like): “I’m not comfortable that youth come back from camp with a camp high and then get hit with reality and over time that high goes away.” After pondering this for awhile I have come to the conclusion that for me, the camp high was not a bad thing as a youth and is something I revisit as an adult.

I was raised with a single mom and went to camp twice a year (or more) from the time I was in 4^th grade clear until I was 21. I grew up in Southern California and attended Green Oaks Ranch in Vista, Forest Home in Forest Falls and Hume Lake. I love camp! I love the experience of getting away from day-to-day life to grow spiritually, play in creation and escape real life worries.

Since I was a kid from a broken home, I did have a lot of worries. But whether it is a broken home, absent parents, family stresses, school pressures, or friend problems, we all have worries and burdens from which we function. It was these times when I could get away from it all and focus more on the Lord that taught me the most about how I didn’t have to just exist through life. There is a better plan. A week (or a weekend) away helped me to refocus, move closer to God, gain some clarity and reprioritize my life. What an amazing gift camp was for an awkward girl from SoCal”

Ok, so after a week (or weekend) of life changing fun and growth in the beautiful outdoors, we all get on our buses and head home. I am pumped! Man is life going to be different. I have it all figured out now! I am going to live differently. I am going to live for my Lord 100% - like I never have before. Well, a day or two goes by and I’m still doing pretty well, still feeling pretty plugged into my “new life”. But then comes a couple of crazy tests at school that didn’t go as planned, my mom is unhappy because I forgot to take the trash out, then my boss gets upset that I was talking instead of cleaning the trays and my friends just don’t understand the changes I have made. I start slipping back into my old ways.

Or have I?

Well, yes and no. Yes, I made a lot of commitments in my mountain top experience. Yes, I do feel as though the work Jesus did on the cross is enough. He loves me, no matter. That is what the Bible says. But no, maybe my expectations for what that looks like are bigger then what He is asking me to do at one time. I need to remember I am in process. I need to remember to spend time with Him, to worship Him through my daily tasks and be the best person I can be to glorify Him.

Forward twenty plus years and what does that camp high experience look for a mom in her forties with five children? My daily struggles are different but what the camp experience taught me is that when I feel drained, disconnected from my Lord, or overwhelmed with life, I need to unplug. Sometimes unplugging looks like just getting away somewhere peaceful for an hour to seek God, going out with my friends to play and pray, or go to a women’s retreat (which is just a youth camp on estrogen). Whatever it looks like for me to recharge, the thing I learned as a youth from my camp high is when I have these feelings, there is a way to reengage. I don’t have to go to camp I can initiate it from where ever I may be. The camp high now becomes a strategy for my life!