By Tommy Rush
About two months ago, the children’s minister of our church came to me and asked for a favor. She needed one more chaperone to help with Boy’s Summer Camp and asked if I would be willing to make the trip. It must have been a weak moment, because I actually agreed to spend a week with approximately 250 boys, ages 6 to 12.
Boy’s Summer Camp at Dry Creek, Louisiana has been a week to remember. In all honesty it was one of the best weeks that I’ve had in a long time! It wasn’t a great week because the weather was great. The weather was miserably HOT and HUMID after the torrential downpour of rain that came on our first day. The rain storm however was a perfect start for the week. There’s something about mud and boys that just seem to go together. The week wasn’t great because of the beautiful setting of the camp. It was definitely an amazing campground. Dry Creek Camp is situated on several hundred acres of beautiful land between Dry Creek and Bundick Creek near Pitkin, Louisiana. The camp has been around since 1925. The walking trails and awesome lake provide a great setting for peace and rest until all the boys wake up. One gentleman told me, “When this many boys are at the camp, we don’t even worry about snakes or gators. They all seem to leave for the week!”
It was a great week simply because I saw 250 young boys having the time of their life! Yes, I’ll say it, the boys had an awesome week doing what most boys love to do. They played in mud, enjoyed swimming in a lake, turning over each other’s kayak, catching frogs and bugs, learning how to throw hatchets and shooting bow and arrows. When we first arrived, several of the boys were crying for home and before the week ended they were crying because they had to leave for home. It was a great week watching boys have a great time being boys!
I believe it was the Greek Philosopher Plato who said over 2300 years ago, “Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable.” I don’t believe Plato was calling all boys a bunch of animals, I think he simply noticed that boys, generally speaking, are designed by God with a competitive, adventurous, risk-taking spirit. They love climbing trees and rocks and have very little fear of danger. For the most part, boys like baiting their own hook. They love to be the last guy standing in the dodgeball game and generally speaking most 7-12 year old boys don’t care about cleaning up before dinner. They don’t care about cleaning anything, period! Even though my own grandson was with us this week, I had forgotten that most boys can actually go several days without a bath or shower, if they’ve been swimming in the lake. At least that’s what they told me.
We made it home today even though there were times I wasn’t all that sure that we would. I’m grateful that I got the opportunity to make the trip. It was worth it all to hear one of the young boys say, “Pastor Tommy thanks for coming with us to camp this year. This has been the best week ever!” Truth is most of the boys may never remember a sermon that I preach, but they probably will never forget the week we spent together in the mud at Dry Creek!
I attended Dry Creek in 1942 as a teenager. Rev. Troy Wheeler and his wife were leaders. Oh, how I wanted to play the piano like her..which I never could. That Camp was an experience I have always remembered. Met Margaret Ellen Abington Sutton there and I made a lifetime friend. Dry Creek is a faith builder!
Those boys will remember this forever!!!
I went to Dry Creek as a youngster when we camped in cabins without air conditioning!! I remember when they built the first little dorm that housed boys on one side and girls on the other. (With air conditioning) We thought we were in heaven!!! Great camp, awesome memories!!