Pros and Cons: Parents might have for sending their kids to camp

“If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will teach them not to.”

From a parent’s perspective sending their kids to Camp Ewalu could be both a bad and a good idea. I thought about it hard and realized there is not that many cons for parents to sending their children to camp. Obviously parents are uneasy about the idea of sending their child, who is very important to them, to camp, especially for the first time.

Cons: The first con I can think of is the cost. Undoubtedly camp is not cheap and all families are not capable of paying the cost for their kids to go to camp. The second con is that camp is a time commitment. It is one week out of a already short summer. Many kids could complain that they want to be with friends and don’t want to spend a week out of their summer at camp. The last reason a parent would say no to camp is they don’t want to let their kids go. At a young age kids are very close to their parents. Parents also want to make sure that their kid is safe, and sending them away to camp is an unknown entity especially for parents that have never been to camp themselves.

Pros: The first pro a parent considers when sending their kid to camp could be that they are sending their child into a world of God to grow in faith. Another reason a parent would send their kid to camp is to have fun and have an experience they will remember their whole life. Although Camp Ewalu is Christian based camp it provides memorable camp experience that any camp would have including songs, pool time, crafts, and games. It is a place to meet new friends and to just be themself. Another reason for sending one or more kids to camp for a parent would having more time in their week to be able to focus on other members of their family and activities.

I see both sides of the spectrum of why or why not parents send their kids to camp. I believe all kids should get the opportunity to go to Camp Ewalu and be able to grow in their faith and have fun as kids.

Invocations

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen”

What is an invocation? It is the action of invoking something or someone for assistance or as an authority. It camp terms it is inviting God into our worship even though He is already there. At Ewalu, campers will do many different types of invocations at the beginning of the worship. All the invocations say the exact same thing but with different actions. One of my favorites is the bunny invocation. One has to get in the bunny position with their hands in front of their body and their butt out. On the count of three everyone will say “In the name of the Father” and jump forward. Next they will say “In the name of the Son” and jump back. Then everyone will say “and the Holy Spirt” and jump side to side. And finally everyone says “Amen” and jumps in the center of the cross that one just made and shake their bushy tail.

Why does God have to be invited when he is already there? It is always nice to have an invitation. We like to invite God so that He knows that He is wanted. Even though He is always there, it is nice to feel welcomed. If we would not invite God then He may not always know that He is wanted. Also when you welcome him into worship it is also showing you that God is there and shouldn’t be at the back of your mind.

Invocations happen everyday not just with God but with our peers. It is nice to invite people to do anything and not just ignore them or push them back. An invitation is always nice. Many times it happens with something so easy. It could be just talking to someone and inviting them into a conversation. Inviting people into your life doesn’t have to be some big thing; also it takes no effort. Just talking and saying hi to people is invoking them into your life.

I believe that with the small act of ivoking someone into your life could make the biggest of differences in both their life and your own.

Leap of Faith

“You can never be happy if you’re always afraid to let go of what’s comfortable, familiar. Sometimes, those are the things that hurt us.” Kushandwizom

Have you ever had to trust something so much that your life could depend on it? Well you should trust your leap and have faith that whatever it is you will live. At Camp Ewalu there is a leap of faith. It is a thirty-foot telephone pole. There is a ladder that goes up about ten feet then the rest of the way the pole has staples on it so that one can climb it. The person going has a harness around their pelvis and also one around their chest. There are two ropes that are attached to the harness system. On the ground there are two belayers. Both have harnesses around their pelvises, which has an attachment that has the rope in it. This connection helps to increase friction on the rope in case the climber falls unexpectedly and to lower the person down. The first thing before the climber can even start is to have a contract with the two belayers. After this is over the climber will climb; once they get to the top they have to stand on the top of the pole. Once they are ready they count down and jump. There is a bar a couple feet in front of them that they try to reach. They then are lowered and the jump is over.

This activity is called the Leap of Faith because you have to have faith to be able to jump off of a thirty-foot pole. You have to first have faith in yourself. Every day you have to have faith in yourself. It doesn’t matter the task at hand. If you don’t have faith in yourself then you will not go far in life. One cannot hide behind their weaknesses, one has to have faith that those weaknesses will go away overtime and the strengths will stand out. Second you have to have faith in the two people holding you up when you jump. This is where you need to have faith in your peers. Surround yourself with people that make you have more faith. If you don’t have faith in someone, they may not be worth keeping around. If you want them around then talk to them. Take charge in your life. If your peers are not faithful than you may end up unfaithful. Third you have to have faith in the ropes. In life you have to have faith in the objects around you. Like the chair that you sit in won’t break when you sit down. You have to have faith that the celling won’t fall on you or that your phone won’t die on you while you are in the middle of something important. Last but not least you have to have faith in God. He is one of the only things that can keep you 100% safe. You have to believe in Him and never let that go away.

The only thing standing between what you are and what you want to be is faith. Take the leap of faith.

God's Plan

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declared the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Have you ever thought of what life will be like in lets say 10 or even 20 years from now? It is a common thing that one thinks about and in school many teachers might have had you write a paper on it. I would always think hard about my future and most of the times say that I don’t know because I can’t predict the future and I wasn’t that creative to invent something like others probably did. I would say the normal things such as having a satisfying job and a loving family. But never really thought about it to the point that I had my life totally mapped out from start to finish. Even now as a junior in high school, I haven’t completely thought of college. I have thought about what I would like do for my career, but that is still up in the air and I have no clue where I will end up for college. I will figure it out eventually. Only God knows my future.

God has a plan for everyone. It may not be the one that you are thinking of now. There will be bumps in the road because nothing is perfect. The plan may include deaths or births along the way. It will make you smile and it will make you frown but God knows that in the end the bumps in the road are ok because He has a purpose for you in His kingdom. In Jeremiah 29:11, Jeremiah writes that the Lord has a plan for you to prosper and not to harm you and to give you hope for the future. He wants everyone in His kingdom to grow and to learn through life’s experiences and thrive. Some may prosper through life or money others could prosper by lessons learned. God will not harm us. God will give us hope in the future. When you are at a low point in life remember that there is something bigger and better around the corner as long as you have hope and faith in yourself and in God. When you are at a high point in life remember that hope and faith got you there so make sure you keep it.

God’s plan for us is a mystery, but it’s a mystery worth solving. You never know what God has for us around the corner.

Alpha and Omega

"Prayers should be the key in the morning and the lock at night"

During church service sometimes I will daydream or get lost in thought. I will look around the church at all the stuff around me, even though most things have been the same my whole life. On the parament on the pulpit there are both an alpha (Α) and omega (Ω) symbol. These remind me of camp.

Everyday in the summer at camp Ewalu the campers and counselors do an alpha and omega. Alpha takes place in the morning and omega is in the evening before bed.

Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, which explains why camp does alpha in the morning. During each alpha campers and counselors welcome God into worship and into their day. They do this through songs both silly and religious. Also through invocations, skits and praise.

Omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet so it takes place at the end of the day. For Omega, most counselors have the campers go around in a circle and name their rose and thorn of the day. These are the highs and lows. Roses have the good, flower part, and the bad, thorns, but you have to have both to have the rose. So the campers will get to hear what fellow campers highs and lows are of the day. Its funny when one camper will say what their high is and another camper will shout out “what, that was today?” It’s funny in the fact that at Ewalu time is not something that is monitored by the kids and often days blend together. The older groups are asked, “Where did you see God today?” This is one of my favorite questions because it is amazing all the little things that campers will say and even the big things are amazing too. God is everywhere at camp and its wonderful for kids to see Him.

Alpha and omega are just two small parts of the day but it is one of the biggest at the same time. It doesn’t take long to do and it can be done anywhere. Many people forget that God is with them or they just don’t acknowledge that God is present. I believe that people should take a few minutes out of their busy schedules each day to recognize God and that He is with them. This can literally be done anywhere; in the shower, in the car on the way to work or school, even in the few seconds before falling asleep. All one would have to do is say or even think “God you are with me today, thank you.” Its something that is truly amazing to be able to know that God is with us and will be there in our day.