Sometimes there are reasons I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

Dear Lake Champion family,

After posting the Summer Staff video and seeing the comments that were posted about it, I realized that sometimes there are reasons why I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

I was reminded the other day of a conversation we had daily with Ryan and Emma. You know, the one that looked a little something like this: Ryan: “What’s our job?” Us: “To love us.” Ryan: “What’s your job?” Us: “To love each other.”

Sometimes there are reasons I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

I was at a frozen yogurt bar the other day and they had snickerdoodle froyo. It was delicious. It reminded me of all the cookies I ate after each lunch during my two months at camp (I probably ate more cookies during that time than I have in my entire life) and how I told myself I would never eat another cookie again.

Sometimes there are reasons I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

Whenever I’m listening to iTunes on shuffle, it never fails to play a song that we sang and worshiped the Lord to, heard during club, or heard while we were eating meals and exiting the dining hall. These songs take me back to the sweet time we were standing in a sea of green shirts in Fox Run at the end of the month, holding hands, and praising the Lord for the time of love, fellowship, service, and community we just experienced together.

Sometimes there are reasons I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

We had a “hillbilly” themed club recently to promote our Mountain Madness fall retreat. I wore overalls and a bandana just like I wore each week at camp. As I got dressed and headed over to club, I realized that I was not heading to the rodeo site or the County Fair “field” to blow up insane amounts of balloons or to hand out tickets to campers like I had done so for two months. I was not going to have to move heavy stacks of hay or make cotton candy. And I unfortunately wasn’t going to have to go straight to the swing or zip or pool to work when everyone got out of club.

Sometimes there are reasons I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

After a long day I could always look forward to being refreshed and strengthened by what Emma and Ryan shared with us at our many meetings. We were all there to encourage each other with the Word to keep each other going. The next few weeks between now and finals will be exhausting for me and I’m going to be stretched, but I won’t have yall here next to me to encourage me.

Sometimes there are reasons I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

Tonight there is not a reason why I miss you, I just do. I am sitting here trying (trying being the keyword) to write my Religion paper and my mind keeps drifting off to our sweet time spent together at camp. My heart longs to be with yall and to be frantically running tiki torches out to the front lawn so high school and middle school kids can hear about Jesus and His love for each of them. I miss people snuggling up in my bunk with me at night or when taking nap or setting the fire alarm off because of the ridiculously hot showers we took. I miss Big O preaching to us in the morning before we started our day on the ropes course or closing the day with “touch time” on the waterfront. And as I’m writing this, I’m starting to feel a lump form in my throat as I try to fight the tears from rolling down my cheeks (I’m in the school library, ha).

Sometimes there are reasons I miss you and sometimes I just miss you.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, please know that someone is praying for each of you. I pray that the Lord has been so evident in each of your lives. I pray that He is teaching you, leading you, and drawing you closer to Him every day. Know that someone has been thinking about you and know that you are so loved & dearly missed.

Sometimes there are reasons I miss you, but tonight I just do.