Camp Joy:

Click-click-click-click the chain rumbles as the roller coaster makes its way to the pinnacle of its ceaseless, predestined journey. Reaching the top, it once again gains speed on descent, as its riders scream with unrestrained joy at the track to come. Camp Joy was a similar experience this summer. Themed "The Emotional Roller Coaster", our five weeks of amusement parked us in various emotional states, with all the highs, lows, and loops that any good roller coaster has. Each of us, including counselors, staff, and kids, not only learned about emotions and how to glorify God through them but also had the chance to experience emotions first hand, riding the coaster together.

While standing in line for this ride, I never realized how intense it was going to be. Once I was strapped in, it was 6 days and 5 nights of twists and turns I will never soon forget. I believe that every counselor will say the same. We had our share of tough times and fun times, but we had opportunities to encourage one another and lift each other up through everything. Every morning we would start with staff prayer, and then we were off for the day to be walking and talking beacons of Truth into the lives of the kids. Of course, I don’t believe we ever thought of it exactly like that, but we made an effort to be a witness in every circumstance by the Spirit of God. One thing about this emotional roller coaster that I realized: it is God Who keeps us on track.

While standing in line for this ride, I believe the kids never realized how intense it was going to be. Once they were strapped in, it was 6 days and 5 nights of twists and turns I hope they will never soon forget.

They had a lot of fun playing with one another in the many activity times, sharing with one another in the devotional times, and fighting with each other the rest of the time. Well, it was not quite that drastic, but I know that every single camper experienced many more emotions than joy at Camp Joy. This gave us the awesome opportunities to take what we were teaching about emotions and show them how it applied practically in their current emotional state, whether that be joy, sadness, peace, anger, or any other emotion. We had plenty of opportunities. It was awesome to redirect their attention from the constant changing of situations, circumstances, and feelings to the One Who never changes through every situation, circumstance, and feeling. One thing about this emotional roller coaster that I pray they realized: it is God Who keeps us on track.