Two wonderful words that signal a week of crazy games, heart pounding music, wild strobe lights, a few tender emotional nights by the fire, a huge group of friends, and the gaining of five pounds due to a few extra helpings of French fries and cookies every night.
I love church camp. My church doesn't actually "camp" per se; we attend a conference each summer called CIY (Christ in Youth) MOVE in Corvallis, Oregon on Oregon State campus (go beavers!). CIY is amazing. The speakers are incredible, the worship is incredible, my youth group is incredible, my pastor is incredible, the food is incredible (I wasn't joking about the second and third servings of fries)... Basically, I kind of love it.
This year was my favorite year of CIY yet. Once again, the speakers taught important truths, the band provided music that you could feel God's presence in as if it were a tangible thing, I consumed a heart-pounding amount of caffeine, and I got to know the absolutely wonderful people in my youth group.
Honestly, going into the week, I was terrified that friends I made would disappear as soon as we left camp. Even though I've always had a great time with everyone who has gone, this is the way it usually goes: The people who are raising their hands in the front at worship are the people who won't sing at all when they go back home. The people who pray over their church friends during emotional moments at camp are the people who completely change in front of their other friends back home. Those who are completely open to you about what's going on in their hearts are the ones that will clam up and never share another detail. The friends that you made on the trip who swear they'll always be there for you never are.
It hurts me.
My 2015 CIY experience was so different. I grew so close to almost everyone who attended with our church and I've seen them almost everyday since we returned. In fact, I have seen at least one or more of them 46 of the 48 days that have passed since we left for CIY. I have so much love for my church family and I'm so grateful for every moment I have spent with them.
My church family has been communicating quite a bit over Instagram DM (which has been... interesting to say the least) and just recently, a friend shared the picture above with a comment about how it had been a month since our return. Within minutes, all of us has written about how much fun the trip was and how much we loved each other and that we couldn't wait until next year... blah blah blah. But what struck me was how many people commented saying that they wanted to make our Wednesday night youth group just like CIY MOVE, spiritual highs and all.
Based off of what I wrote earlier, you'd probably think that because I am so in love with church camp, I'd want life to just be like one long camp.
So. Much. Wrong.
Here's my reasoning . Most people who go to church camps (and this is a total generalization) return on that spiritual high we all love to mention. "I went to church camp and all I got was this cute guy's number, a bad sunburn, and a spiritual high!"
You fellow church kids know exactly what I'm talking about.
Anyways, the problem is that this high typically isn't what we think it is. When we're on a "spiritual high" we feel completely on fire for Jesus and inspired and omg wow awesome so cool #blessed.
I'd like you to read back over that last sentence and focus on one little word amongst all my crazy: feel. These post-church camp highs are usually nothing but emotions, and although it's great to feel that for a little while and remember your time there, the strong emotions aren't going to be enough to help you truly face life when you get back home. Emotions are very human and subject to change, so when something big hits you after you leave your little camp bubble, they'll eventually give way.
And even if the spiritual high means something and isn't just pure emotion, you don't need to be on that high all the time in oder to be close to God. God is in the mundane tasks as well as the greatest adventures.
This tweet better explains it in my opinion...
God never calls us to duplicate our spiritual highs. We're called to remember the Most High in our lows. #faith #grace #Jesus
— J.S. Park (@PastorJS3000) September 9, 2015
Also, church camps are a special treat because if every sermon was like a CIY conference, I think the impact would decrease. To take a term from my summer Econ class, it would be like "diminishing marginal utility"- the more you have of something the less you enjoy it. If I'm crying at every last thing my youth pastor (shoutout to Matt who's pretty cool even though he won't fund co-queen tee shirts) says and practically attending a nightly rave for worship, then I would start to expect that. Anything less would be mildly disappointing.
Just because I don't want youth group and church to be like camp doesn't mean I think we should disregard everything we learned and felt at CIY MOVE/church camp. I know that I have brought back the community, the passion, the lessons, the moments when I saw either myself or others being changed by God, and the knowledge that I am still seriously broken, but yet so loved.
I have so much more to say about CIY and church camps and spiritual highs and my church family, but I'll try to wrap it up with what I had to say about my trip on Facebook and then throw in a few random CIY pictures because why not?