It is so good to be back at camp.  We have been so thankful for the hospitality of Highlands, the churches and people of Fort Collins, and so many others.  And now we get to be back home for our first full week of campers.  This is good news!  We have some new programs this week: for the first time we have Round Up campers (1st-3rd graders), Mountaineers (3rd-5th graders), Homesteaders (6th-8th graders), and a Leave A Trace group (high school service group).  What a spread of ages for week 5!

My highlights already this week have been watching the Round Up campers.  We don’t get to see these young ones much over the course of the summer, and they are such a joy.  Smiles abound around, and because of, these children.  To give you an example, I’ll tell you a story from this morning.  At Sondance, our morning worship, there was a skit to tell the message of the day.  For our skits up here, we have the campers do ‘curtains down’ and ‘curtains up’ where they cover and uncover their eyes so we can set the scene.  After the skit today (which was about Jesus being with us all the time, and our being able to see him especially through baptism), one of the staff members said ‘curtains down’ (cover your eyes) to end the scene.  This staff member did not realize the importance of then saying ‘curtains up’!  A couple of Round Up campers listened very carefully and kept their curtains down until they were told they could bring them up.

Moments like these are precious.  They call us to another time when we were all a bit naive.  Being around these children takes us back to another time, when life was filled with so much wonder, and a stuffed animal was a necessary pal for worship.  These children carry with them energy, and a completely different perspective on life that, at least for me, as an adult, I sometimes forget.

May you be filled with wonder and energy like a child, living life unafraid and unashamed of whatever naivete you carry.  May you know that you are still a child of God, no matter how old you are.

Peace to you from Sky Ranch!

Kirsten Sauey Hofmann, Chaplain