Campfire Talk by Nick

August 6, 2025

Hello Everyone! If you don’t know me, my name is Nick Benson. I go to the University of St. Thomas, and I am a first-year staff on life squad.

This week, you’ve probably seen me scream, shout, dance, and do a lot of energetic, goofy things in front of you guys. Whether it was leading Zumba, yoga, introducing the water front, or spilling chilli in the Bible study videos. Well, these are things I wasn’t always that comfortable with doing. 

On Monday, Dillon talked about getting out of your comfort zone and trying something new. My talk is going to follow up on Dillon’s talk. I’m going to talk about how camp has helped me get out of my comfort zone and how it has helped me shape my true self and view God differently.

Thinking back on why I love camp, and why I chose to work here, of course I think about the all the connections I have made, and how much closer I have become with God, but I also think about what camp has taught me, and how my camp experience has made me comfortable with being uncomfortable and has made me be able to be the fullest, goofiest, most energetic true self I can be. Camp has taught me that being a child of God and living in God’s image doesn’t always have to be something serious, something you always have to have a straight face for. It is also about being silly and goofy, having a fun, good time.

As a kid, when I would come to camp as a young camper, I started off pretty shy. But the more years I came up to camp and the more I saw my counselors and the staff members do funny stunts, dumb dance moves, and bad singing, I slowly started to put myself out of my comfort zone. I remember leading my Olympic teams in chants and hyping them up in my later camper years, which is something that would not have done in my younger camper years. This energy and goofiness became my favorite part of camp when I became a counselor. I loved and got joy from doing stupid stunts, participating in Zumba, or singing and dancing in front of the campers. Thinking back on it, this is one of the biggest reasons why I love camp and why I chose to work here, and I would of never discovered this if I didn’t put myself out of my comfort zone as a camper. I learned that doing these goofy things is where I got the most joy, and is why camp makes me feel so close to God. Learning that you can see God in not always the most serious ways, sometimes you see God among laughter and silliness.

This experience of putting myself out of my comfort zone at camp has really helped me in my everyday life; it has made me the person I am today. It has helped me appreciate each day and has reminded me how important it is to find joy in everyday moments. Camp has taught me that I thrive being lighthearted, going with the flow and not taking any moment for granted. It has taught me to see God, not just in serious moments, but in every day moments of laughter. It has given me a different perspective on life, and is the reason I am an easy-going person, ready for the next adventure in front of me.

Of course, not everyone is like me, the type of person to yell and do silly things in front of everyone. I am not asking you to change who you are, but simply to try new things, as I truly believe that putting yourself just a little outside of your comfort zone can make a huge difference and cause you to appreciate and laugh at more things in your life. Causing you too see God in new ways.

Matthew 7:13-14 says: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

I see this quote as God calling us to do new things, taking the narrow gate for life, this gate takes us to life and makes us appreciate those everyday moments more and overall will lead us to a better life. God’s plan for us might be a hard path. Although taking this path is a very hard thing to do, we need to know that God is always with us as we push ourselves outside of our comfort zone and the more you do that the easier it will get.

I encourage all of you to put yourself a little outside your comfort zones, do things that you haven’t done before, as things will get easier the more you put yourself in those situations. Try seeing God in a different way, and find what makes you the most happy.

With this journey of becoming comfortable with more things, I now know that I thrive, get joy and see God through doing crazy things like dumping a bucket of water on myself during my campfire talk.