Sundays at Alpine
I’d love to give you a window into our Sunday at camp yesterday. As mentioned in my last post,Sundays are set apart. We still play and have fun. It’s a break from the routine. A chance to rest a bit. And to worship the Lord. We had a church service in the morning led by our camp minister for the summer, Mac Holt. Mac is an ordained pastor working with RUF on the campus of the University of Tennessee. RUF is a wonderful college ministry that I highly recommend if you know someone heading to college. They are on many campuses across the country. We are thankful to have Mac and his family at camp all summer. He preaches on Sundays but his main job is to care for our staff, through Bible studies, one on one meetings, and prayer. Mac brought us a gospel message from Philippians and even tied in an analogy from Toy Story, our Saturday night movie night showing in the Gym.
A great tradition at Alpine is the wearing of Sunday whites to church. Everyone, my family included, wear all white. Counselors and campers wear the old school neckerchief around their neck, secured with an Alpine leather slide. While we “dressed up” we took the opportunity to get professional photographs of each cabin and your camper individually. These are taken by well known Chattanooga photographer Lane Park. There’s no additional cost for these and each camper will come home with his cabin and individual photos. In the afternoon Tyler planned games by age group. He ended Sunday afternoon slicing some cold, juicy watermelon on the team sports field.
We end Sundays with an evening vespers service in each cabin area. Carter and I joined the Hunter 1’s (rising 2nd grade) at our new fire pit just outside the Dining Hall. We sang a few classic hymns and Carter read the story of the Three Trees. Many of your boys excitedly told us that they read it at home with you. It’s a fantastic story with a strong message about God’s plan for our lives even when it’s not what we think it will be. I closed by reading Psalm 100.
As a Christian camp Sundays are important. We believe they are to be set apart. But we believe that what it means to be a Christian camp must be considered every day of the week. We can’t compartmentalize our lives. I tell the counselors that all of their lives lived out in front of these boys is showing them what it looks like to be a Christian. It’s important what we say in a devotional or church service. It’s just as important how we treat each other and show the love of Christ to each other in all of our actions.
I almost forgot our meals on Sunday, another tradition long held and set apart from the other days. For breakfast Mrs. Gail and company always serve piping hot platters of her homemade pancakes with sausage patties. Lunch after church is the beloved fried chicken, green beans, rice and gravy, rolls, and sliced pears. Supper, though the least talked about of the three, is some folks favorite meal of the entire week. Chicken sandwiches, very similar to Chick-Fil-A, are served along with fries and brownies for dessert.
This will likely be my last post for Junior Camp as we have many fun things to do tomorrow to wrap up the term. If you are a current Jr camp parent you should have received an email today with all the Closing Day details. Gates will open at 7:30CDT. Look forward to seeing you then! Glenn
