If you had told me a few months ago that in the span of about seven weeks I would begin a new job and jump through what felt like one million hoops to re-open a camp that had been closed due to our global pandemic, I am quite certain I would not have believed you.

It is not that I shy away from hard work or that I do not see its value. It is that I am not often one to sacrifice what is safe and familiar for what is risky and difficult. In my life, I have been an example of what to do, and what not to do, when God calls you to a new thing. What I have learned in the last seven weeks, as I sprinted toward the “finish line” of being legally allowed to open camp this summer, has been that sometimes what we are called to do and be in our world does not come easily.

As we successfully transition into our new summer dynamic, I encourage all to ask what it is that God has called you out of your state of familiarity to do. I have personally always found the end goal to be worth the risk.

I hope to see you this summer at DuBois Center, and that you and your family enjoy God’s abundant love this summer! – Hayley Elliott, Acting Director of Outdoor Ministry