Weekend Update
The lead picture for this blog, found above, says it all. It’s been a postcard worthy weekend in Mentone with abundant sunshine and fun. Saturday brought a full day of activities for campers to enjoy. Wilderness classes learned how to build fires and ended each class with a fire building competiton. Two fires, one Cherokee and Mohawk, were assembled and lit. The first fire to burn a string placed at a certain even level above each fire would receive points for their tribe. It’s a boy camp - we can compete for anything!
The waterfront classes ventured down to the rapids over the past few days, with lifeguards and head of water activities, Ross Shumate. Ross and his wife, Dodd, live in Chattanooga and are good friends of ours. He teaches at the McCallie School and has a background in lifeguarding, having run other similar programs in the past. It’s great to have him lead our largest program at camp, which includes pool swimming, waterfront, canoeing, and kayaking. And this year we’ve added stand up paddleboards to the mix, which the boys have been loving.
Little River is dammed up to form a lake like body of water for our waterfront. Below the dam, large boulders and pitches create running rapids. There are many places at Alpine that display the wonder of God’s creation, but none more stunningly than the rapids below the dam. From main camp, the terrain slopes downward, where the river has carved a gentle canyon over the many years. If you stand near the dam and look down river large boulders and rushing water are surrounded by a canopy of trees on either side. On a clear day, like the last few, the green of the leaves on a backdrop of blue skies added to the soothing sound of water moving under and around multiple shades and sizes of rocks is almost sensory overload. Almost. But of course the real fun for the boys is exploring and splashing in the slow moving rapids, under the watchful eye of Ross and his lifeguards.
Sundays at Alpine are special. They feel very different than the other 6 days. Most any other day of the week if you ask a camper what day it is they will probably reply “I have no idea?”. We first know it’s Sunday because we roll over about 7 expecting Reveille only to notice that all is still quiet. An extra hour of sleep comes in handy after a busy week of activity.
When we are on the road in the offseason talking to current and former campers we often ask them what traditions they remember best about camp. Sundays are almost always brought up in the first 2 or 3 favorites. And specifically pancakes on Sunday morning. Mrs. Crow’s pancakes, and now her daughter Mrs. Gail’s, are known throughout the Southeast by men and boys alike. At our house during the school year, it is tradition that I fix our girls pancakes on Saturday morning. Very early on they let me know that, though they enjoyed mine, Mrs. Gail’s were better. I was not offended.
Sunday morning also lends time to an extra special “white glove” cabin inspection, also much needed after the busyness of the week. Somewhere in mid morning a bell rings and the entire camp lines up single file, clad in white Alpine shirts and any variety of white short. A second bell calls us to silence and we process into church one by one.
Ben Shaw is our camp minister this summer, charged with leading our worship services among several other duties. He is an ordained pastor who works with an on campus ministry at University of Southern Mississippi called Reformed University Fellowship. We hire a camp minister for the express purpose of ministering to the needs of our staff. Counselors have a high calling - and Ben is available to them for Bible study, conversation, encouragement, etc. He also ably leads our worship.
After church we head to the dining hall. Baked chicken, green beans, rice and homemade gravy, pears, and rolls await us. But most importantly, Moosetracks for dessert. Moosetracks hold a special place in the hearts of many an Alpine camper. Mayfield Dairy’s most popular flavor, it combines vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge chunks and tiny peanut butter cups (vanilla is offered for boys with allergies).
Sunday afternoon brings time to run around and play some games as a cabin. We reunite at the end of the afternoon on the Team Sports field where we cut up cold, juicy watermelons. Is there anything better on a summer afternoon?
Sunday night holds a vespers service for each cabin area, led by a different counselor each week, similar to the morning watches held each morning. We hope campers learn about the Bible in the devotionals and services held throughout the term. But we know they will not remember a lot of what is specifically said. I remember very few specifics of what was said by my counselors when I was a camper. What I do remember, and what we hope these campers remember, is that a very cool, fun college age guy opened the Bible with them each night. That’s what I want for my girls. I want them to see it’s not just something that Carter and I do with them, or another mom or dad teaching their Sunday school class. I want them to see that the same counselor who has been playing games with them all day, the same one they look up to and want to be just like, that this counselor is willing to spend time with them talking about and reading the Bible. It is a normal part of life.
Thanks for reading and good night for now,
Glenn
