Ode to Susque
Granola Grace, Wading Deeper, Parenting Chickens, Get Yoked, and Hot Wheels Perfection
Last month I got the opportunity to go spend a week serving as a chaplain for a week of family camp at Camp Susque. They’re located right outside of Williamsport, PA (home to the Little League World Series if that’s on your radar), nestled in a valley between two beautiful mountains and bordered by a river known for trout fishing. “Trey, that’s a long way from Louisville! How’d you get there?” It is indeed quite a haul from Kentucky, and honestly I’m not sure how I got there (aside from Apple maps).
Jared (shoutout to his podcast appearance below) taught at Susque a couple years back. Their camp director, Peter Swift, reached out to get him back but he couldn’t make it happen. Peter then went through the rest of his long rolodex, got a boatload of no’s, and then finally reached out to me. I’ve never taught at a camp before (unless you count VBS), but it seemed like a fun opportunity to get in front of families and encourage them as they stumble through the joy, frustration, excitement, and anxiety of parenting. So, I said yes, and we were off.
Fast forward six months, and I’m pulling into their parking lot to meet the Susque team for dinner. Peter and his wife opened up their home and threw together a spread for 20+ camp staffers to enjoy. I knew they had built something special just hanging out with this group of mostly college kids. They genuinely enjoyed each other, laughed a lot, swapped stories about the week of camp they’d just wrapped up, and welcomed in a stranger from Kentucky.
Family camp officially kicked off the following afternoon as vehicles kept pouring into the parking lot, folks whooped and screamed as they reunited with other families they hadn’t seen since last summer, and bags got dropped off to their mountain home for the week. Most of these families have been coming to Susque for decades. Many spent summers there when they were kids, and now they were back with kids (or grandkids!) of their own. They know each other, they know the camp, and heck, they even know the menu in the mess hall for the week.
As easy as it would’ve been for these folks to keep to themselves and dip right back into these decades long relationships, they went out of their way to welcome me in. I got waved over to tables during meals, folks stuck around to chat after chapel, and people struck up conversations on hikes. These guys were some of the kindest, warmest, and welcoming people I’ve met. The charm of Susque had rubbed off on them, and they were happy to bring me into the fold.
It was family camp, so guess what we spent most of our chapel time talking about. That’s right - the family! We had kids of all ages in the mix, from brand new baby twins to older high school students. So, while there was a wide range of parental experiences to interact with, we spent a lot of time highlighting God’s grace in parenting.
We know we’re not perfect in any aspect of our lives, but we’re often hardest on ourselves when it comes to our children. Parenting is a tremendous call from the Lord (Deut. 6). It’s challenging, and exhausting, frustrating. But it’s also beautiful, life-giving, faith-building, and rewarding. Our children are a gift from the Lord (Ps. 127:3), and we want to steward that gift well. We’re going to blow it with our kids (when they’re babies, toddlers, pre-teens, and young adults), but that doesn’t mean we give up! We rest in God’s grace, knowing that we don’t have to be perfect because Jesus was perfect on our behalf. Our constant refrain for the week was progress over perfection.
After doing chapel together, families were able to choose their own adventures each day. The camp had a million activities and classes lined up each day (pottery, rifle, archery, swimming, volleyball, hiking, tubing, rocket building, etc.), but families we also free to hang out and rest, read on a porch rocker, ride bikes, enjoy rain pattering on roofs. It was really cool to see kids picking relationships right back up where they left them the summer before.
God gives some of us the gift of a special place or a special season of life, work, or ministry that shapes you for the rest of your life. After being there a week, it’s clear that Susque is one of those places for lots of people. Pixar’s not right about everything, but core memories seem to be a real thing. Time spent with family, hearing and singing the gospel, and running to storm shelters during tornado warnings can forge those core memories for kids (and their parents).
If you’re around the Williamsport area, check out what they’ve got coming up this fall, and the rest of the year here. Peter and his crew would love to have you, and help you and your family or ministry team make some core memories of your own.
Granola Grace (Discipleship)
“The family that chooses you, though, at your lowest moment, who doesn’t run away, but instead bakes you granola? There’s a depth to that definition of family that I will spend the rest of my life marveling at.”
Without a doubt, the best thing I’ve read this week. While God’s grace occasionally shows up in big, loud ways, we experience it more commonly in small doses. That doesn’t mean the small doses of grace mean less. In fact, it’s often the smaller, quieter experiences of God’s grace that mean the most to us and help get us through the day. Anna writes beautifully of a time when a friend demonstrated God’s grace to her with a simple (albeit delicious) jar of granola. A lovely reflection on suffering, friendship, grace, and comfort. Check it out and consider God’s grace to you delivered in ways big and small. How can you offer an aroma of grace to those in your life?
Wading Deeper (Student Ministry)
“Youth pastors now struggle to get access to kids or garner regular attendance at youth group events. And when kids don’t attend consistently, it’s hard for youth ministers to connect relationally, build community, or disciple effectively.”
Great piece from Cameron Cole on the challenges student ministers are currently facing, and how they can adapt to overcome them. As students get busier chasing college opportunities, sports accolades, and the siren song of relationships from technology, it’s more and more difficult for them to attend and engage in youth group. Not all these challenges are new, but leaders have to wade through deeper water now than they used to in order to reach the kids they’re trying to disciple. Cameron gives some thoughtful guide rails and suggestions to student ministers to help them connect and build relationships with teens in their churches. Worth your time to consider if you’re serving in this area, or if you have kids of your own in this age bracket.
Parenting Chickens (Parenting)
Jared Kennedy jumped on the Straight to the Heart podcast this week to talk faith, family, and joy with our friends at New Growth. My favorite part is Jared talking about all the chickens they’re raising in the middle of suburban Louisville (what a world!). You can listen directly at this link, or find connections to your favorite podcasting sites (Apple, Spotify, etc.) at the bottom of the page. Give it a listen and be encouraged!
Get Yoked (Discipleship)
“We are loved, forgiven, and accepted first, and it is not our following that earns us God’s love (like following the Law). We are already loved, so we live out of that reality. Busyness isn’t faithfulness; trying to measure up isn’t faithfulness; walking with Jesus is.”
Dylan Dodson looks at Matthew 11:28-30, that passage you’ve read about Jesus’s easy yoke, and compares it to how we often feel following Jesus. The disease of busyness is woven through most of our lives now, and Dylan reminds us that Jesus calls us to an unhurried life with him. His yoke is easy not because he invites us into an unhurried life spending time with the Father, helping others, being generous, and loving people. Great piece to reflect on as fall calendars ramp up and we struggle to find margin in our schedules.
Hot Wheels Perfection
Sorry if you live in Boston and this video is triggering for you, but it’s the coolest Hot Wheels thing I’ve ever seen. My kids have watched it dozens of times this afternoon already. I’m not trying to do all that work myself, but I’m glad other folks do it for me to enjoy. Enjoy the weekend!