Camp

Think about that place you love. The place you wish you could always be and where you know your friends are. This place is relaxing yet exciting. For me, that place used to be The Bench at camp, Lake Geneva Youth Camp that is. Unfortunately, and in reality for me, these places can cease to be. They can disappear not only or necessarily in their physical nature, but in their emotional instruction. Meaning the way in which the place commands your feelings. Luckily, erasing memories is much harder to do than destroy a special area.

I’m discussing this with you because I was reminded of my bench at Pine Bush Bible Camp. I was able to check it out with friends from church on 4th of July weekend. As I drove up, I felt like I was going to camp, it smelled like camp, and it made me remember every feeling I ever had at camp. If you are not familiar with my camp experience, it’s probably because I don’t talk about it much with people who didn’t spend there summers there. I went there every summer from age 8 to 18 and since there have been many changes that have almost completely eliminated my eagerness to attend. Until I was at Pine Bush last weekend, I had not internally and exhaustively thought well upon my time at LGYC, even when I visited for the first time in two years last summer. My reminiscing was a good thing.

My positive emotions were fueled by a resemblance to camp at its simplest state. Pine Bush doesn’t have all the hooplah LGYC can afford. It is quite spartan: A dining hall, chapel, cabins, handcraft, naturecraft, canteen, pool, playground, blacktop, soccer field, nurse station, river, and an archery pit. What makes the place amazing is the campers and devoted workers who focus the camp on the principles of God’s Word.

After we arrived at the camp (90 miles upstate in Bloomburg), we saw the kids go to lunch and we sat on a bench. I loved watching the kids line up for lunch because I remember being both the camper and the counselor in lining up. It is the most fun time to watch campers. You can figure out every kid’s personality by viewing their actions and reactions in one line up. Surprisingly, these campers were very well behaved. Only one cabin was hitting each other.

The bench we sat on wasn’t nearly as comfortable as my bench, but the company was great. When lunch was over we continued to sit on various benches and talk. While we were chilling, the kids were playing basketball and in the pool. I checked out the canteen which reminded me of the latter years I spent at camp. I would sit in the canteen at teen camp all of the time. It was the place to be, mostly because of the air conditioning. This canteen was very different, it was basically a shack with a few chairs. Still, food is food and I know that’s where I’d be, especially with its prices.

What really got me to remember my previous summers was when I walked into the chapel. I slowly walked in and took a breath of the familiar smell of an all wood chapel. It was an experience I knew well because the last two summers I spent at camp I ran the chapel A/V. It became my home in Lake Geneva (besides the Dup which I have endless stories about). Something about the chapel at LGYC was very calming when it was just me getting everything ready. Of course, everything would hit the fan 30 minutes before chapel. I had the same moment of calm when inside Pine Bush’s chapel. It is a small chapel with a tiny sound system and no air conditioning. As I walked toward the front I saw they use overheads for songs and only a piano to play the music. While I am most familiar with a giant “state of the art” sound system and a great video projector, this little chapel brought me back to the first couple years of me being a camper when Uncle Bill would put an overhead on the projector in his distinctive way of moving and lead the music with only a microphone, a piano, and a piano player. I still remember him talking about the song “The Eyes of the Lord” and how it was one of his favorites and it had to be sung nicely. I walked up to the piano and played “Blind Man” and imagined how everybody would go nuts as soon as they heard the first chord. After that I walked out to explore some more. It was just nice to have that calming feeling again.

I walked the whole camp from the archery pit down to the river front. It didn’t take very long, but was nice. The camp is relatively small in size and, in truth, is poorly laid out. Henry told me a planner had come earlier in the week to talk about long term development. The naturecraft and handcraft buildings were not next to each other and the cabins were not confined so you can easily keep campers in check. What was lacking most was that there is no central area. Nothing like the gazebo area at camp where everybody knew to come to find the action or HAVE WATER DUMPED ON THEIR HEAD WHILE WAITING TO HELP A PROGRAM DIRECTOR, “TAKE THE FRUITOPIA!” (A prank we used to play on people at camp, of which I was a first round victim and later accomplice in carrying out). Hopefully, Pine Bush will be able to make the campground layout better.

Before we left we ate some dinner at the camp. We had to pay $3 and inform them we were eating early so that they could make enough food. The kids, about 125 in number, were banging on tables and singing songs, it was great. Naturally, the teen staff was more annoying than the campers. Certainly, the place was not as ridiculous as a Boys Camp meal, but come on, not even a circus could live up to that.

After dinner, I did what I have always loved to do after dinner at camp. I sat on a bench while dusk was approaching and listened and watched the campers play games. If you were ever at camp you’ll remember sitting in the gazebo listening to camp family playing king ball, campers yelling, ledge balls popping off the stairs, dining hall doors slamming, program directors calling somebody across the way, and whistles blowing from the basketball court. Or maybe you’d ride up to the bathhouse to park the cart and watch speedball for a while. My friend Moses kept coming up to me and asking if I was bored, but I just smiled and said, “Nope, I love this. This is exactly what I wish I was doing, seriously.” If you’ve ever done it, you’d understand.

It was a perfect day. God wanted me to think about those memories. Pine Bush really has a good thing going and I know the Lord will honor that camp. I wish I could take a week off and work up there.

-George the Reflector

Basketball Court and Pool

The Chapel

Playground, Dining Hall, and Cabins