Famous Last Words: "I Will NEVER go to Christian Camp"
When our family moved to Texas in 2002, we kept hearing about Christian summer camps, both in and out of Texas. If I am honest, I thought camp sounded like the dumbest thing I ever heard. Our church went away to family camp every year, and seemingly everyone talked about getting away with their families for a week or sending their kids to summer camp. I can’t tell you how many times I told Kristen we would NEVER go to camp.
Fast forward a few years… our twins started going to Pine Cove’s Camp in the City. They loved it and Kristen really wanted us to look into Pine Cove family camp. I resisted for a few years, but finally gave in after dozens of people shared with us about the greatness of Pine Cove family camp.
I’ve said a lot of dumb things in my life, but telling Kristen I would never like or want to go to camp may be in my top five. The Kedersha family headed to Pine Cove family camp in the summer of 2013, and I am so grateful we did. We returned in 2014 for an even better time, and we signed-up to return in 2015.
Here are 7 reasons why we love Pine Cove.
1. Our kids love it. Pine Cove is the highlight of their summers. We do a lot of fun stuff in Dallas and our kids love our home church, but the highlight is getting to spend a week together at family camp.
2. We made some great friends. Many of the same families return every year for family camp and Kristen and I and our kids have developed some great friendships through our years at Pine Cove. This applies to overnight youth camps as well.
3. We grow spiritually. Every year, there is a speaker at camp. The teaching is great and is very applicable to our lives. In addition, there is always a theme. This past summer the theme was “brokenness" and focused on the Parable of the Soils and the fact that our soil must be broken up if we are going to produce a fruitful crop through our lives (see Hosea 10:12 and Mark 4:1-20).
4. Camp is a great escape from work and your home life. For one week, we are able to unplug from our phones, work and television. We spend more time together as a family and we take advantage of the dozens of activities and opportunities camp offers!
5. We laugh and celebrate. This one may be one of the biggest shockers to me. We laughed our tails off at camp, through the skits, the counselors, the talent show and much more. It’s good to laugh and I don’t do it often enough.
6. Alone time with Kristen. Man… I cannot place enough value on this one. We get so much time together, just the two of us. We were able to have some great conversations, enjoyed quality time together and rested.
7. The counselors are AMAZING! Pine Cove does an incredible job of selecting and training the young men and women who spend time with our kids and with our family. These counselors entertain us, love us, and serve us like crazy. They provide great examples of Mark 10:44-45 servant leadership. In addition, the counselors provide that "other voice" in our kid's lives. While our kids won’t always listen to us or trust us, they are very willing to listen to and trust their counselors.
Several of our boys want to grow up and be Pine Cove counselors. I can’t think of too many other things I want them to do!
To register, go to pinecove.com or give them a call at 877-4-PineCove to find out more.
Your Turn (leave a comment below or on Facebook):
Have you ever been to summer camp before?
Pine Cove counselors: What’s your camp name?