By Jeremiah Harder – An article from The Camp Connection Volume I, Issue 3
John 15:12 “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”
Believe it or not my family and I were able to squeeze in a weekend to go camping away from camp this summer in the middle of the busy month of July. And I must say it was one of my favorite weekends of the entire summer. We tent camped for two nights at a county park in central Wisconsin. What a joy to spend time with my wife and three boys enjoying swimming, s’mores, pudgy pies, stars, and campfires. Boy do I love my family!
And yet when you look at the verse at the top I know I don’t possibly love them enough. Jesus Christ has called me to love others in the same way He has loved me, with a perfect love. I of course must continue to strive for this while knowing I will never love my family as much as Jesus Christ loves them. So what does one do to grow in this area?
I believe one way to grow in this is to glean from others who have families where the love of Christ is pouring out from the relationships within the family. One of my favorite places to do this is Labor Day Family Weekend at Arrowhead Bible Camp. I count it a privilege to be around so many exceptional families each and every Labor Day. This summer was no exception. At Arrowhead we seek to make Labor Day Weekend a time where families can be built up and given opportunities to grow in their love for Christ and each other. Our programs, chapel times, even meals all strive to that end. With the two ingredients above, exceptional families and purposeful programming, it’s a beautiful thing to watch over the weekend as families love, serve, honor, and care for one another.
As you can see, for me Labor Day Weekend holds so much more than just a fun last weekend of summer. It’s a place to see Christ at work in families and in me. I invite you to come next summer for family camp and join in as we seek to build families up in Christ.
Amen! This past Labor Day camp was my first, and I loved seeing the families there together. Especially when I only knew the children, it was great to see them interact with their parents there. Definitely a good weekend!
This is right on track. I know that my parents love me so much and yet Jesus loves me even more, Wow. What an amazing promise God has given us. Praise God!
Though I was not there at Labor day, I have been to some Memorial Day weekends at Arrowhead, and those weekends also encompassed family love very thoroughly. It was very warming.
Many different families came together, and spent their weekend working very hard on getting the camp ready (doing many things I do not want to do in my own house!) The many different families showed love, respect,comraderie, and servitude toward each other. The true Christain love that each person exhibited can only be seen like that when it actually exists within their own homes and families. And I will always count myself grateful for knowing groups of people, and a safe place, where I can find Christ’s love.