500 days of Autumn

This is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard. Its been on repeat on my phone for the last month, and also what I wrote the below post to.

There are certain places that your heart never stops falling in love with.

For me, this place lies 2 hours away, down a twisting winding road and separated from civilization by 5 kms of water

It is a place covered with tree's, rocks and surrounded by cold,fresh,lake water.

Its here that I'm truly myself, that God is biggest and nature is so beautifully raw.

Camp has shaped me and so many others in ways we are only beginning to discover and we keep going back year after year, and every year we learn more about ourselves through the staff, through our campers and through the incredible landscape we wake up to every morning.

I've had my most shaping moments in this place, some have been tearful, others jubilant.They've been literally filled with blood, sweat and tears and don't forget the mosquito bites. 

You begin to see people as they truly are on a 12 day canoe trip, the good the bad and the ugly. People really are the most beautiful after they haven't showered for 10 days. Things like hair and makeup are a million miles away, you are tanned (though you most likely have a lifejacket shaped white spot)

your hands are calloused from gripping the paddle and your face, underneath the tan(its really mostly dirt and ash) and bug bites is shining.

Shining because you just carried that canoe for 2 miles, shining because you just ate the best meal of your life (because river meals truly are the best)

or maybe you just forgot the sunscreen.

But you are raw.

And its beautiful.  

The community there is shaped by every kind of person, and no one is too weird or too lost.

It truly is a peek into what heaven will be like.

And the food is like no other.

I want to remember,

the way the waves lap at my toes

the sound of a wooden paddle 

Eclipses on the dock

6 summers of memories

Hearing rain from inside my tent

The sound of waves crashing on the shore

snuggling in blankets while lighting lights the sky

Dutch blitz in the dining hall

~Summer~

And to never stop falling in love with the wildness and warmth of 

God.

Where is your heart truly at home?

Yours,

K