Christian Camps
Did your mother make you go to one of those Christian camps when you were young? They were certainly not my cup of tea then! Firstly at that time I wasn't even religious. Secondly my idea of a good time when I was young was not sitting around a campfire singing songs or doing bible readings, and now I come to think about it the sound of a tambourine was like a hammer pounding in my head with every beat. I tried to tell my parents that, but the more I protested the more they made me go to church and to lame programs like Christian camps or Christian youth groups.
It wasn't until I was somewhat older that I was able to reflect on the benefits of these Christian camps. Now that I look back it wasn't all talking about the bible and Jesus. I also learned some really valuable survival skills for both the forest and life itself.
In between all the bible-bashing and singing we had some really good counsellors that knew a lot about the great outdoors. It was here I learned to shoot a bow and arrow, how to row a canoe all the way across a lake, how to catch edible fish successfully and how to correctly skin a wild rabbit and cook him up with a few taters and vegetables. What I thought at the time was a religious camp was really a survival camp. I can remember thinking "If I ever have kids, I am never ever going to send them to Christian camps", but strange as it may seem now I'm in that position I would like for nothing more than my kids to be interested in attending one. I have a son who attends church with me on Sunday, but my daughter is a bit more wayward and is beginning to go off the rails a little. My son really wants to go, but I was afraid to ask my daughter. To my surprise when I finally asked her she said yes! Even though all of her friends will get to spend summer hanging out and going to the beach and wild parties - she actually wanted to go. When I asked her why she simply replied that she could see how fondly I recalled by summer Christian camps and wanted to have good time like that to look back on herself.
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