Living a life like no other.

Do you know what Camp Qwanoes is like?

Do you want to?

then.

I will tell you about...

how amazing it is here.

like, you have no idea.

Advance crew starts, and very few people are here. Retreats and guest groups start and give you a tiny taste of what summer is like

and slowly more and more people start moving here

and the team gets bigger and bigger

and then staff training starts. and literally people just pour into camp

and its overwhelming at first, and you are mad at them because they steal all the best bible reading and hang out spots

and then staff training starts and your head is turned inside out, and your heart is turned inside out, and you cry and laugh, and worship, and fall to pieces all while being built higher than you ever expected.

and then

the kids get here.

and the first week is probably going to be the hardest week of your life.

and when all the kids leave at the end of it, we have a staff meeting

and you will probably at some point that afternoon think to yourself "there is no way I will make it through eight weeks of this"

and then it will feel like you blink and you will be at the end of the summer

and you are so tired, but you have seen so many things happen

and god has moved in such powerful ways

and then it is youth camp

and you are exhausted, and you feel like you are hanging onto the very edge of the ledge by the tips of your fingers

and at any moment you might let go and then fall into oblivion.

but you don't.

and then at the final staff meeting, you realize that the great ledge you thought you were hanging onto

really wasnt a ledge at all

you were actually standing on solid, solid ground the entire summer. more solid than anything in your life

but, you were standing on your tiptoes, hanging onto a ledge that you created for yourself

just to feel that way, because we are human and we need to feel like we are fighting for life and death

and we kinda are, just not in that sence

and then you want to sleep for a month

but you dont

and life keeps going

and no matter where you go or what you do, i guarantee that a good chunk of your heart will ALWAYS belong to qwanoes

and even in the worst moments of qwanoes

the moments where you feel like you aren't good enough, and that you just can't keep going

the moments of tears and fears and trials and pain

you will never have felt that high and that good in your life. you will walk away knowing way more about your strengths and how God can use your weaknesses. 

you will have a 200 person strong family.

you will realize the extent that the brokenness of this world can break your heart

but at the same time, how the love and grace of christ can soothe it and give you even more of a reason to fight for him

you will walk away in the most powerful humility you can imagine

a humility where you understand how much you rely on Christ to keep going, but a sense of power of God working through you in that understanding

you will cry for the kids that met Jesus

and cry for the ones that didn't.

you will learn what it is like to pray with extensive love for over 3000 children

that you feel like you know each one personally

and feel each ones pain

and for a moment, a single sliver of a second, you feel a tiny fraction of what God must feel for us

and then you will feel tiny, and broken, and oh so loved

love that you could have never imagined existed before that exact moment of dawning

and a love that you know you still don't even come close to understanding

that God is pouring, in torrents, on top of you.

and that is the power of serving a summer at qwanoes