A Time For Every Season

It is true that there is a time for every season under heaven. Today as I watched the pool being covered for the 2008 season, my thoughts drifted back to the vitality and electricity of the summer camping season and I began to miss it deeply. Truly being a Camp Cherokee camper at heart, I remember the lazy days by the pool, the fun and games on the field and the sweet smell of Miss Sue's cookies coming from the kitchen. Warmed by the fire in the evening while the melodies of children rung through the air down at the old wood chapel. At nights I can remember never getting a better sleep than when I was in the hogans, snuggled deep in my sleeping bag, listening to both the box fan humming and the tree frogs with their regular cadence.

Then and there, time stood still as it still does for so many young people who call Camp Cherokee their summer home. It is a bit hard to explain, but there truly is "Camp Time" and "Real World" time. In camp time, counselors hang on your every word, thrust open their arms to the most awkward of individuals with warm Christian love and every step that is taken is undoubtedly hand in hand with our Lord Jesus Christ. During "Real World" time, it is sometimes less obvious where the divine resides in the crammed schedules, distracted classmates and sometime indifferent adults. But as summer camp leaders, ours is perhaps one of the most noble of ministries. We are the weavers of dreams, the constant playmates, the purest and most reachable of role models in difficult times. Simplicity in living is our creed and our singular focus is on the development of a solid foundation in Christian community and love. From a week or two at Camp Cherokee, our campers can take a year's worth of eneregy back to their homes and shine the light of Christ more brilliantly than before. We augment and amplify the valuable work of the "home Church" and to so many with no church home, we are their rock in a sea of over marketed information overload.

Shhhh.....be still and know that Christ is with you.

Every year I miss the summer that has just concluded, but that mountain top gives me such a great view of the dips and rises of the rest of the year, without it I would be lost in the valleys with little reason to cast my eyes heavenward. As the leaves begin to fall and we break out the firewood for the lodge, the embers will continue to glow in my heart until the next summer approaches when it will truly only take a spark to get the fire going again.

Shine on Camp Cherokee 2008, Shine ON!

kh