Spiritual High

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If you have been to a church retreat of camp, you know the spiritual high you get from the experience. For many teens and young adults, church camp, of any kind, is a great learning and enriching experience. Church camps are a time to bring together young people for a week or so and bring them closer to God. For the young people, they get to see friends, spend time learning, and growing in faith. I would encourage everyone to participate in this experience in some way.

I went to a week-long church camp sponsored by Lubbock Christian University a few summers ago. The week was full of time spent with friends, getting to know new friends, and learning more about myself and my God. Through classes, lectures, and small groups, we learned ways to talk to others about faith and ways to grow in our faith. The theme was Broken and a lot of the classes focused on having been hurt in the past and being able to let God come in and help. It was a very eye opening and encouraging week.

The group from my church spent a lot of time together. Most of them had been to this camp, and other camps, many times. They looked forward to it every year. The hard part was going home after such an uplifting week. If you have been to a retreat or camp before, you know how it feels to go back to everyday life. No longer do you have your friends with you almost every moment of every day. No more do you have evening singing that takes over your heart. Life starts to happen again and day by day, you lose that good feeling you had while at camp. During the week, you may have grown and felt at peace and strong with God. Back home, that feeling starts to fade.

In my youth group, we talked about this a few time. How could we work so that that feeling didn’t fade as soon as we got back home? It is a feeling we should have all year round. Maybe spend more time with your youth group doing things together. Have prayer nights or singing nights to lift each other up. Do service projects in your community. There are many ways to keep that spirit when not at camp. Find something that works with your group and try to keep the feeling you have when you get back from camp around all year.

Most Christian universities have some type of summer camp. Many churches also sponsor camps. Find one that works for you and do your best to participate. It is something I did only twice but I highly recommend it. It is good for anyone to take a week or so and connect with God and reexamine your faith. Do not let that be the only time that you do that though. Take what you learn and use it in your life. God is always there for you with the same amount of intensity. We should try to also be there for Him with the same intensity.