It is commonly believed that most adults can dig back into their memory banks to the age of approximately three-and-a-half to four years old. And according to studies from the American Psychological Association, the more experiential memories tend to begin closer to five years old in most young children.
Remembering back to my youth, the common themes that trickle their way into my brain seem to revolve around sports, church, family and the lake. No, I wasn’t one of those kids whose parents pushed high-level sports from the very get-go, but I did find myself playing soccer two or three times a week in the spring and summer months. Shedding the training wheels on my two-wheeler quickly led to mountain biking, off-roading and a passion for motorsports as I hit my early teenage years. But it’s safe to say that my most vivid memories involve lakeshores and the great outdoors.
Whether it was camping trips with the family to weekend getaways at my grandparents’ cabin as a toddler, or “helping my dad build our family cottage” in my elementary years (which was just my sister and I picking up fallen nails and handing him whichever requested tool was yelled for), to going for week-long stays at the MNO Synod’s outdoor ministry at Luther Village in Northwestern Ontario, my parents ensured that free time was best spent outside.
And I can’t thank them enough.
Prior to building a cabin of our own, my family’s idea of a quality summer vacation was a getaway in the pull-behind camper. That was until the pop-up style trailer came down heavily on my mom’s head and enough was enough. But the memories of biking around different campsites, learning how to build fires and catching frogs in nearby creeks continue to live on in my mind.
With four full months of summer on my hands as a university student, the thought of working at camp from late-April to September was a no-brainer. And I did it twice. No, it wasn’t the incredible pay that drew me in, but rather the thought of teaching youngsters a little bit about myself, our shared beliefs and expanding my faith in an environment set within the beautiful Canadian shield. It ended up being so much more than just leading evening campfire sing-alongs and attempts at flipping groups of pre-teens off their motorboat tubes.
It was a time of self-discovery, where I—a university student working his way through a communications and media program—was able to escape the hustle and bustle of a full course load and truly work on my relationship with God, while making some lifelong friendships and gaining incredible learning experiences in the process. None of this would have been possible without the upbringing I was blessed with or the ongoing desire to explore God’s creation.
Sure, weekdays at summer vacation Bible school programs and various retreats to Christian camps in Grades 6, 8 and 12 certainly played a role in my faith development, but it really wasn’t until I was away from parents and taking care of myself where the idea of choosing to attend worship services, or opening my Bible fell solely on my shoulders. No, I’m not going to try to convince you that I spent my entire four months at camp studying various passages of Old Testament text, but I did make sure to choose a few verses to read through and think about before my early morning jogs and again after a late-night snack.
As we read through Hanne Kuhnert’s feature story on outdoor ministry and Kim Scherger’s reflection on her 25 years as executive director at Luther Village, many recurring themes present themselves: peace, worship, friendship and faith, to name a few. Now, if those aren’t good enough reasons to get back to the great outdoors, then maybe online video services are our best bet after all!
Carter Brooks
Interim Editor
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