Encouragement From A Counselor

As we are in full swing of recruiting season for summer 2015 our best counselors are our returning staff. Trust us our summers are not the same without a good returning staff to camp. So read this encouragement from Nii about what its like to be a returning counselor and consider filling out your application to come back. 

Thus says the Lord:

Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.     -Jeremiah 17:5-8

If there’s anything camp has taught me, it’s that this passage is 100% true.

Camp comes easy to me in a lot of ways. I love being active; I love having fun; I looooooove talking about the Lord. Camp is also very difficult for me in a lot of ways. I’m not (by nature) the type to create intentional conversation with people; I like to work by myself, rather than with a team; I get very, very, very cranky when I don’t get all the sleep I want.

My first year at camp, I tried to get by on my own ability. My first day off was four days into 4^th session. I drove home, walked into my house, and the first thing I told my parents was, “I can’t do this.” Talk about a humbling moment.

My parents knocked some sense into me, and after my panic attack ended, they convinced me to go back the next day. Despite the slight twinge of embarrassment I still feel when I think about that day, I’m very thankful for it. I learned very quickly that I am limited, but God is limitless. I stopped trying to be the best counselor I could be and started trying to be the counselor God wanted me to be. That was one of the most fruitful changes I’ve ever made in my life.

In my three years at CWE, I’ve had the opportunity to share Christ with kids who have never heard the gospel. I’ve prayed with kids to accept Christ, and I’ve gotten to see the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their lives as they’ve come back each year. I’ve made incredible, lifelong friendships with other counselors. I learned how to shoot a gun, shoot a bow, climb a rock wall, hold a snake, build a fire, ride a shark, build a rocket, airbrush a t-shirt, catch a fish (and a pig), and so much more. 

My point is, camp is special, and it only gets sweeter with age. I never thought I’d experience anything better than Year 1…until Year 2. And surely Year 2 was as good as it could get…but Year 3 kicked its tail. You just can’t get the full camp experience in one year. Heck, you can’t even do it in three. Every year means new campers and staff, new challenges and opportunities, and another chance to go to battle for your tribe and for the Lord. So come back to camp. And for your own sake, bring your friends with you. Nothing’s more frustrating than telling your friends about Mish Mash and them confusing it with mashed potatoes; trust me, I know from experience. The CWE experience is too big for me, or you, or even for all of us. It’s like God’s love; the more we share it, the bigger and better it gets. So spread the word. And remember, “It’s not goodbye. It’s see ya later.”

In Christ (and go Osage),

Nii Abrahams