Summer Camp and the Real World

I spent yesterday afternoon up at Lake Tahoe at Galilee, the Episcopal camp and conference center for the Diocese of Nevada.  My wife Tricia and I will be camp chaplains up there for a week this summer, so I went to represent us at the Staff and Chaplain training.  In the group of 12 who were able to be there we had four over 40, two in their thirties and six in their twenties.  In the group we had 1 bishop, 2 priests, 1 full time camp and conference center director, 1 full time camp program director, 1 missionary, 1 seminarian, 3 school teachers and 2 college students. 

 

It was such a blessing to share my time with them, each of which brought a different perspective to the table.  Each of us brought our own “camp” experience to the conversation.  We all came to be at this camp from very different backgrounds; backgrounds which have given each of us a fresh outlook to the life we will share in common.  Though the roles we will have while working with the campers will be different, there was a sense of equality that radiated from the group as we shared bits and pieces of our stories with one another.

It is often said that being at camp is not the real world and I would have to agree…but what if the real world was like camp?  What if each of us took the time to share our stories with each other in such a way that wiped clean the stumbling blocks of our differences and allowed each of us to embrace those differences with the confidence that God put us together for a reason?... and that we had something to learn from the other, each person and each lesson being equally important.

Peace…