Camp High

Imagine this...

You are a teenager. You go away for a weekend with a bunch of your closest friends. You're separated from your computer, your TV, your video games, your homework, your hectic schedule, and the rest of your regular world. You take part in four different worship services where you praise God and hear about how to make Him a bigger part of your life. Your friends and other leaders at camp encourage your faith non-stop for about 50 hours straight. Say hello to the Camp High. This is the feeling where the only thing that matters to you is God. The only thing you want to do is worship. The only book you want to read is the Bible. The answer to every question is "Jesus." You get the picture. It's an amazing feeling, and you hope that it never ends.

Then you go home.... back to the same computer, same TV, same video games, same homework, and same crazy hectic schedule you always had. This wane in spiritual enthusiasm is tough on high school students. They miss the excitement, and they start to feel bad that they don't have the same passion for God that they had at camp. Right now is about the time our students will be feeling this way. We took a large majority of our students to our Fall Retreat a little more than a week ago, and that Camp High is about to dwindle.

That's where we come into the picture. While encouraging the church in Thessalonians 5, the Apostle Paul writes to them "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." Our students need us to encourage them in their faith. The Camp High is not designed to last forever, but students need to have that encouragement in their faith from adults and parents who care about them. We can't let them move from a world where they get that encouragement non-stop to an environment where they don't get that encouragement at all.

So let's take Paul up on his advice, and let's intentionally start a spiritual conversation with a student today. Let's encourage them where we see God working in there life and challenge them to give Him more of their life. Let's give our students a reminder of the Camp High as a way to encourage them to grow closer to the God that didn't just stay at camp, but is with them every moment of every day.