At Nature Camp we use tools of nature study and wilderness skills to communicate Biblical truth.
Our theme this summer was Navigation. Why do people get lost in the woods? How do we find our way? What gives us direction?
Over the course of two weeks, 45 volunteers (including 10 teens) guided and supported campers (33 the first week, 36 the second week) as they explored these questions through games and challenges, spending their whole morning out in the woods.
Each day we gathered as a group to pray, sing, and hear a story from Scripture. Then campers broke into age-groups and headed into the woods. From there, leaders would guide activities with questions, encouraging further lessons to unfold.
One day campers were challenged to walk in a straight line across a field while blindfolded. This is surprisingly (and delightfully) difficult. The challenge illustrates why we get lost and why we need an external compass. We do not go rightly on our own. God has provided his Word to guide our lives’ path.
After hearing the parable of a lost son (a story Jesus tells in Luke 15:11-32), campers tested out strategies a person could use to head in the right direction. Sighting three objects in a line, navigating by fixed points, and following waterways were ideas explored through the day.
Other highlights included: constructing natural shelters, hearing about the amazing world of insects, playing migration and blindfold games, tending fires, wandering, making drilled-stone pendants, and sharing daily gratitude stories.
We need awareness and skills to navigate our path in the wilderness, and we need Christ to orient our lives. In our own wanderings, we are lost without him. We learned from the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7) that we serve a Creator who treasures us, seeks us, and will rescue us from our lostness.
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