Summer 2010 - From Ty's Perspective

Hey Camp Friends!

I wanted to share with you some things I wrote in my prayer journal shortly after the end of this summer. I found this the other day and it really helped me reconnect with how great our summer was at Camp Deer Run! God blessed our camp in many ways throughout the summer. I thought this might help you all reconnect with your camping experience whether as a camper or staff member. I asked myself five questions and here are my answers.

What was your favorite moment of the summer?

Most summers I would have difficulty pen pointing one moment but this summer all though there were many awesome moments, I find it is easy to name my favorite. 4th Session, the second Wednesday night. M8 campers led worship that night. Kade Cox, Brad "Duff" Beard, Aaron Bently and Sean Dulock preached from the Word that night. Most of the boys have been camping for many years a few of them since they were nine years old. It was wonderful to see how these boys have grown and matured in Christ. Camp has played a part in their development. That night following the service we baptized eight campers in the new pool. I was privileged to baptize Abby Fair who I was a part of the Gilmer church of Christ youth group when I attended there and worked with the Youth Group. She is an awesome young girl who has great joy in all that she does. It was an uplifting night that showed how God is using CDR to help develop young people into strong Christian men and women.

What will you miss the most from the summer?

I will miss the daily opportunity to work along side 54 awesome Christians (the Summer Staff). Their energy, their focus, and desire to serve is amazing. I will miss their smiles, their laughter and their contagious love for camp. I will miss watching them serve the campers and enjoy their camp experience. I will miss watching them love on my son, Drayton. I will miss their beautiful singing. I will miss their passion for God and their desire to offer Him a pleasing sacrifice. I will miss Thursday night's in the office having fun with everyone working together to prepare things for Friday checkout. I will miss these awesome young men and women. I cherish all the moments we shared together.

What is the best part of living at camp each day during the summer?

The best part of living at camp each day during the summer is having the opportunity to live in a place that is focused on God and separate from the world. The purpose of all that is going on is to glorify God and teach others about Him. To be surrounded by this each day and to feel the bond between co-workers in the Gospel is an incredible daily blessing. It is always hard to return to the "real world" when the summer ends.

What was a funny memory from this summer?

Funny but painful - Walking back from Hoche Outcamping with staffer, Jamie Green, I was bitten by a mystery creature. It was not the unifang since whatever it was left two sets of fang marks on my side. I'm sure it was a spider, or at least I think so. I never got a look at what bit me but it hurt! I howled like crazy as the pain set in. I returned to my house to google bite marks and the closest thing I found was a black widow bite! I took some medicine and went onto bed wondering if I would wake up and have to visit the Winnsboro E.R. as a patient for the first time! Luckily it was not really a black widow and the swelling went away by the next morning. It was a funny occurrence and I hope I never meet that mysterious creature again!

What would be your message to the campers and staff?

Realize today and every day that Jesus Christ died for you! God loves you so much! Respond to that love and imitate it. Know that God is with you and come before Him in prayer because He cares for you. Know that I love you and I'm thankful for your faith in Jesus. God can and will do amazing things through you!

In Him,

Ty Ford

CDR, Director

Checking In

I want to apologize to everyone for not having many posts up lately. I am going to start doing better with this blog. A couple of weeks ago I posted a message about sharing prayer request with each other on this blog, and trying to do it every Sunday. A few Sundays have passed since then, I haven't done one of those posts. So here we go. I didn't get any specific requests, but that doesn't mean there aren't things for us to pray for. Camp has been over for almost 2 months, but there is still plenty of work that needs to be prayed about. Running Camp Deer Run is a year long job, and prayers from the Alumni is always appreciated. I encourage you this week to take a few minutes out of your day to pray for Camp Deer Run and for God to continue to bless the work that is being done at this special place.

Hopefully this post will get me back into a fairly routine habit of posting again, and I will stick with the weekly prayer list. If you have something you would like to share with the CDR Alumni family so that we may all pray about it, you can email it to me at cdralumni@gmail.com.

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,

Sparky

Do you have any prayer requests?

I tried doing this a few months ago, and kind of got away from it, but would like to try it again. I would like to start listing prayer requests from any and all CDR Alumni. I think that it can be such a powerful tool for us to be able to take requests to God together as Deer Runners. I would like to post these requests or praises every Sunday for everyone to see and pray for during the week. I hope that this is something that will really take off and will help all Alumni to be able to grow closer to each other and to God. If you have anything that you would like for me to post this Sunday, email it to cdralumni@gmail.com .

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,

Sparky

Thank you for Camp Deer Run

I think this is too cute of a story not to tell, and I think that it sums up how so many of us feel about Camp. My wife, Sarah, and I have a 2 year old son named Riley. We have taken Riley out to Camp since he was born, and this summer he went out there with me several times. He really enjoys spending time out there and being able to run around, hanging out with the big kids. He also has made several friends his age that he talks about all of the time. Well, every night when we say our prayers, I will start out by saying "Dear God," and Riley will follow with "Thank you for ____" over and over and over. Usually he will fill in the blank with a grandparent, or an aunt or uncle, or somebody's pet. But every night, without any prompting from me or his mommy, he says, "Thank you for Camp Deer Run." Every time I hear this it puts a huge smile on my face a warm feeling in my heart. I feel the same way about Camp as my two year old son does, and I already know that it is a place that he loves. I just think that's really cool.

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,

Sparky