Latham Springs - Part 6

Before we go any further into life as a sponsor and various camp traditions, I’d be remiss if I didn’t get into my underlying love for Camp.

Why do I love Camp so much? Why is it such a special place for so many?

I could never speak to someone else’s passion, but the great thing about Camp at Latham Springs is how those that have been… know. All this writing I’m doing is about rehashing memories and lessons learned. It’s not about convincing anyone how great the experience was. If you’ve been, I’m preaching to the choir. If you haven’t, (a) you’re probably not reading this and (b) my words could never convey Camp.

Just 12 miles west off exit 1304, Latham Springs is tucked away and has undergone many changes over the years. More buildings, a ropes course, a zip line, a gift shop… who knows what else. But, all the places we love are still there. Our cabins still stand. Swank Field is still there with more uneven ground than the Democratic Party (sorry, was struggling for analogies), the Tabernacle is still there, but now completely enclosed, the Cafeteria is there with the mic, even though they’ve partitioned it off differently from what we remember… The Prayer Garden still sits back behind the Tabernacle, although it’s a bit rundown now. If you’ve been there, you just got mental images of the place.

But while all this loosely describes the place, it doesn’t explain Camp and my love for it.

Separated from the real world, you are constantly on the go to the point of exhaustion, surrounded by an atmosphere where God is the focus… not music, not movies, not sports… God. While there will always be conflicts, camp breeds positivity. People are nice to you. And they’re always supportive. Camp breeds a bunker mentality that ‘we’re all in this together.’ We are all eating the same semi-edible food. We are all taking showers that never seem to wash the soap off. We are all tired and suffering from allergies. We all stink from sweat and dust.

And we are all praising God together.

In short, it’s everything the real world isn’t. Maybe that’s part of the problem too, in all honesty. Real life isn’t camp. In real life, you have bosses who don’t really care whether you had a quiet time that morning. You don’t have other groups wake you up bringing you juice and coffee. There’s no after-lunch worship service.

No, the real world has bosses asking for reports in 15 minutes. Sales reps whining because something is somehow your fault and not theirs. In the real world, your IT department can’t get your computer up and running when your password needs to be reset.

So, the stark contrast between that one week (that somehow fuels an entire year) and the other 51 is why I love Camp so much.

Latham Springs may not be anyone’s imagination of Heaven, but God sure seems to keep a summer home there.

Next week, I’ll get into life as a sponsor and a few groups/stories. I’ll also go through as many camp traditions I can think of.  We are rounding the Latham Springs/Camp series down, but hopefully through all this… Camp (and what we gained from it) will live on a bit longer.