We just came off of a great Summer Camp season at Camp Wakonda. Our team worked well together: they were efficient, they worked hard, and they got along well. They also saw the spiritual blessings of coming into each week with a missional attitude: we saw 19 young people (including some of the staff) get baptized over the past four weeks. It's awesome to be a part of something like that! It's also hard to figure out what to do with one's self when it's over. I've been there before, as a young camp staff, the feelings of aimlessness--feeling like I should be doing more, but the work is over. I've also felt the loneliness afterward, because a week ago I was living with a bunch of my closest friends and now none of them are around. Here's my advice for anyone who finds themselves, inevitably, in the valley after having just come off of the mountain top.
Don't let the mission end.
Sure, Camp Wakonda is A Place Set Apart. But God has also set YOU apart for bigger plans than just Summer Camp (and this applies to any evangelistic series, or school year, or mission trip, etc.). The problem I find is that people feel like it takes the mission trip or the summer at camp to bring them close to God. The truth is that God can be near us and with us at all times. Let your mission focus not wear off just because the event is over: ask God how He wants to use you HERE and NOW, even after the event.
It's natural to feel down in the valley after a mountain top experience. Many of the Bible heroes experienced the same. But don't stay in the valley. Rest up. Pray. Ask God: what's next? He has more in store for you! Personally, I can't wait to see how God uses our camp staff team, wherever they are, over the course of the next year. He's got big plans for them. And for you, as you're reading this.
Remember YOU are set apart. YOU are Wakonda.
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