Beulah Beach is one of the best camps in Ohio, and one of the biggest reasons why is simple: the stories. The kind you don’t forget. The kind that only makes sense if you’ve actually lived them. Working at a summer camp has a way of making you calm through all the chaos, unfazed by just about anything, because, honestly, anything can happen at camp, and usually does. As I’ve been reflecting on some of my favorite memories, I’ve realized how many of them are rooted right here. So I wanted to share a few of those moments with you, the ones that still make me smile, laugh, and pause a little when I think back on them.
Week 1: Getting the Gospel
Picture yourself sitting on the sun-warmed pavement by the bell, ten day campers gathered around you on a quiet Thursday morning. The week has felt full in the best way, little moments stacked on top of each other that you didn’t realize would matter so much at the time.
You celebrated a birthday with the girls, letting one of them feel like a princess for the day. You sat with each camper one-on-one, giving them your undivided attention as they talked about everything and nothing all at once. You cheered them on as they faced fears they didn’t think they could overcome like riding on the giant swing, and stepping out in faith onto the zipline.
And now, the best part of the week has come.
You get to share the Gospel.
They had just heard it during Morning Mix, but as you look at their faces, you can tell it didn’t quite land the way it needed to.
So you reach into your notebook, tear out a page, and start drawing. A simple stick figure becomes Adam and Eve. Next to them, you write God, and you explain how, in the beginning, there was closeness, a community, connection, walking with Him without anything in between.
Then sin enters.
You draw a line straight down the page, separating God from Adam and Eve. The mood shifts as the weight of that separation settles in.
But you don’t stop there.
You draw another line. This one crossing through the first. A cross. You explain that through Jesus, what was broken can be restored, that He made a way back to God through His death and resurrection.
For a moment, it’s quiet. Just the sound of camp in the background and a group of kids trying to take it all in.
You look up, wondering if it made sense.
And before you can even ask, your favorite camper blurts out, “Abigail, that makes so much sense now! I understand the Gospel!”
And just like that, it clicks.
That camper ended up accepting Christ that week. And later ringing the famous Beulah Beach Bell.
And somehow, in that small circle on a piece of notebook paper, everything else from the week fades, the exhaustion, the chaos, the long days and what remains is that moment. The one that made all of it feel worth it.