Riley’s Story
“Rain is a serious blessing. Rain sustains life, and provides relief from some of the hottest summer days. Don’t get me wrong, I love rain. However, rain makes things wet. And at camp, sometimes rain can make things quite difficult. On the last night of every session of boy’s camp, we do a reflective campfire called a ‘say-so campfire’. The purpose of this is to take some time before everyone goes home to reflect on the amazing experiences we’ve had at camp. It is also an opportunity for campers and staff to share some of the amazing things God has done in their lives. I have heard many testimonies of the goodness of God through the many say-so campfires I have been a part of.
One of the best parts of the say-so campfire is actually having a fire. When it’s wet, or raining, that becomes much more difficult. One session last summer, it was very wet on the last night of camp. Because of this, the voyageur section and myself moved to the boy’s camp dining hall to have our say-so campfire. I was a little nervous. We had no fire, because having an actual fire in the boy’s camp dining hall would bring that thing down in minutes. Would people connect? Would there be a level of vulnerability? I started the evening and prayed for God to move.
I’ll be honest. The best way to describe that particular say-so was that it was fidgety, distracted, and pretty random. Guys kept getting up to go to the bathroom. And looking back on that moment, I love it. Why? Because that’s what boy’s camp is a lot of the time. Things don’t necessarily go according to plan. And through it all, God was working. I know He was doing incredible things in the lives of everyone present. Some of those things were shared. Some of them weren’t. In a lot of ways, that doesn’t really matter. The most important thing is that we were sharing community together.
So I look back at that say-so campfire with joy. The rain was a blessing in disguise; putting us in a position we would not have chosen ourselves. There, in that moment, God was present. There, in the boy’s camp dining hall, we learned a little bit more about community.”
Riley Goltz ‘Lyric’
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