COTH

I'm sure most of you don't know what those letters in the title mean, but to me and so many others, those letters mean Camp of the Hills. A little piece of heaven on earth nestled in the hills of Marble Falls, Texas whose soul purpose is to love on inner-city children and teach them about Christ. I LOVE Camp of the Hills - it feels like home to me and brings back a flood of some of the most wonderful memories in my life. To recap the story that most of you know....Jason and I started dating when we were co-counselors at COTH in the summer of 2000 and that is where, in April 2001 by the lake shore, Jason proposed to me. It holds a very special place in my heart and always will. It is amazing how some place that you only spent 12 weeks of your life can impact you so much.

I was blessed to spend this past Thursday and Friday there - me, Elijah, my mom, my niece Katherine and our friends from Fortress - Sheena and her daughter Jordan. Sheena was a camper there about 10 years ago and had been wanting to go back and see camp again as an adult because it meant so much to her as a child. We had a wonderful and relaxing time and were able to help the volunteer group cook meals in the kitchen while we were there. We also watched the crucifixion reenactment they have every Thursday night - Elijah asked A LOT of questions, wanted to "help Jesus" and wondered why they were hurting him - it proved a perfect opportunity to share with him the most beautiful love story in history and tell him how much Jesus loves him. Elijah had a great time and it was so special for me to see him having fun and enjoying the place where his Daddy and I fell in love.

Camp of the Hills is a place of refuge and the place on earth where I have seen God most clearly. Here are a few pictures....




Our group - Katherine, me & Elijah, Sheena, Jordan and my mom, Kathy












Elijah and I sitting on the steps of the dining hall. That porch alone holds a ton of wonderful memories!







Helping my mom make biscuits for breakfast in the kitchen. Can you tell he had fun with the flour? :-)


































In the swimming hole and the beautiful view of camp from the back deck of the dining hall. The lake you can barely see off to the left of the picture.
My last thoughts of camp come from a friend and co-counselor in an email that he sent out just a few months ago:

"Look at the letters, COTH. Think about it for a moment... Four random letters of the alphabet that don’t even spell out a real word, but to us, it is a real word. To us, that word means something. There’s no other place in the world that can be called “camp.” If one of us talks about camp, then all the others know what is being talked about. We don’t have to say the full name of the camp, or talk about where the camp is. We all know what it is, and we all know where it is. To US, it’s just “camp.”

We all share a special bond together because we were a part of camp. To each of us, camp is such a special place. For most of us, camp is the place where we saw God bigger and more alive than ever before. I thought of all the memories, the sweat, the prayers, the tears, the hugs, the joy, the comfort, the encouragement, and the love that we all shared at one time or another while at camp. I thought of kids. The KIDS. The countless numbers of kids that walked those grounds. I wondered where they are, what their lives have turned into, and do they ever think of camp.

As I sat there, I just thanked God for CAMP. For the memories, the hard times, the up times, the down times... For many of us, there were times when we felt like we were sweating blood trying to get a kid to open up to the love God wants to give them, and when we got to the point where we had nothing left, God took over and showed why he is GOD.

Thank you Lord for your love. Thank you Lord for friends. Thank you Lord for camp." Amen.


Sidenote: I finished the new Harry Potter book last night at around 2 am (pathetic, I know but it was completely addicting!). One word: FANTASTIC!