There is something about the Frio Canyon that feels, to quote an old George Strait song, like it is “always never the same.” I first came to the Canyon in the summer of 1990 as an LLYC camper at Singing Hills. This summer, 35 years later, I drove into that same Canyon and through that same river, but now as the Director of Laity Lodge Family Camp at Headwaters.
This summer, our joy was surprised by sorrow.
Just a short drive away, families and campers along the Guadalupe River experienced devastating loss in the floods on July 4. We continue to pray for them. We continue to grieve with them.
Even as the world around us shifts, the work of camp remains unchanged. Camp will always be a place where people find rest, healing, and wholeness. And we always hope they return to their communities refreshed and ready to serve.
Throughout the summer, I have taken comfort in the Apostle Paul’s advice to the church in Corinth: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1Co 15:58). This high calling to the church in Corinth still inspires what we do each and every summer in the Canyon.
Here are just a few of moments that stood out this summer:
None of this happens by accident. Grief doesn’t cancel joy, and joy doesn’t ignore grief. The Lord continues to work through camp in powerful and significant ways. And you are part of that. Thank you for helping make this place what it is, what camping is throughout Texas— “always never the same.”
Questions to Consider