In September of 2024, our Camp Director, Stacie, set out to walk the Camino de Santiago, a religious pilgrimage walk across the country of Spain. It was a journey of about 500 miles that took her just over a month to complete. During that time, she made friends from around the world, had transformative conversations with other pilgrims along the way, and spent many hours in prayer and conversation with God. It was life-changing and wonderful, but it was also one of the most difficult things she had ever done. Stacie walked in poor weather for much of the journey, even walking during a hurricane. She battled injuries like a torn hamstring, developed more blisters and bruises and sores than she could count, and had days of homesickness and fatigue.
Stacie’s journey leads us to ask the question: Why do people climb mountains? Why do they intentionally set out to do things that are difficult and challenging and taxing? Stacie wrote during her travels, “My feet hurt and I’m tired. And I have been contemplating why so many, including me, choose to walk, choose the path of difficulty, when there are easier ways. There must be something earned in the pain.”
Our culture tends to prioritize comfort. We spend our days in climate-controlled spaces. We sleep in comfy beds. We have more than enough food to choose from when we are hungry. We have Tylenol for our headaches and Netflix for when we’re bored. None of these are bad things. But they don’t stretch us or grow us.
Why do people climb mountains? It’s more than just the view at the top. It’s about the things we learn about ourselves along the journey. It’s about proving our own strengths and admitting our own weaknesses. Summer camp offers the same kind of transformational experience for kids. It pushes them outside of their comfort zone. In the challenge and the discomfort, they fall in love with the outdoors. They wonder at the beauty of the sunset. They have authentic conversations with new friends. They encounter the love of God in new ways. They grow in independence and confidence. None of those things happen if we stay where it’s comfortable. They happen when we make the choice to embrace the joys of challenge and doing hard things.
Give your kids the gift of discomfort. Help them grow in powerful ways. This summer, let’s choose bunk beds and fireflies, campfires and kayaks, because we know that along with the adventure and laughter and friendships at summer camp, we also climb mental mountains and run spiritual marathons. We grow emotionally, physically, and spiritually because we make the conscious choice to forsake the comfort of home—with our air conditioners and our couches and our favorite binge-worthy shows—to embrace the wonder of a challenge. Growth happens in the moment of fear before a child leaps off the zip line platform or falls back in a trust fall into the arms of their group. It happens as they choose to admit their doubts and worries during Bible study or fall asleep under the stars listening to the cicadas chirping in the night.
When we embrace difficult and hard things, we learn so much about ourselves and the God who cares for us through it all. Stacie wrote about her journey, “The Camino was nothing like what I expected. It was so much better. God was there in the rain and the blisters and the cold. God was there in my new friends, there when I tore my hamstring, there when I felt so alone, there when I walked through the hurricane. God was there in the tired mornings, there in the clouds on the mountaintops, there in the mud and the sludge and the puddles.” It was a vision she never would have had if she hadn’t embraced the challenge and discomfort.
Summer camp is such a wonderful opportunity for kids to grow in a safe place, a place that pushes them past their comfort level and gives them a chance to see how God is working in their life and in their world. Don’t miss out on this chance for your kids this summer. Register today!
Cardboard Stories