Campfire Talk by Ryan

Tuesday – August 12, 2025

Hi my name is Ryan and I am a first year on life squad. I attend the University of Minnesota.

Today I am going to tell you guys why camp means so much to me. 

I have been coming to camp ever since I can remember, starting in 2nd grade. I don’t remember much from my younger years, but there was always a reason I wanted to keep coming back. For a while, I thought it might be because all the games were super fun and weird, or that I really liked being in the lake, or maybe even because of the canteen. Who really knows?

As I got older, I started to wonder why I was so drawn to this place?

In my final years as a camper, and then in my 3 years as a counselor, I started to realize more and more why I wanted to be at camp. Although the games, canteen, and food might have been part of it, there was always a bigger reason that camp was so special to me and that I wanted to keep coming back.

I finally came to the realization that camp is one of the only places I’ve ever been where you can truly be yourself. Up at camp, there is no pressure to be anyone else. You don’t have to act a certain way to impress people because, here, the only thing that matters is being yourself. Having a place like camp where you can truly be yourself is such a blessing, because being your true, authentic self in God’s image is one of the greatest things you can do.

It reminds me of the Bible verse Psalm 139:14, where it says, “I praise you because I am fearful and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” That verse is a good reminder that God made each of us exactly the way we are for a reason, and that we don’t need to change who we are to fit in.

Being yourself isn’t always the easiest thing to do especially at school or in sports, where there are other people that may be judging you. 

Being my true self while not at camp was something I struggled with throughout middle school and high school. Something that a lot of people don’t know about me is that I was in orchestra all the way from elementary school until I graduated high school.

The reason so many people didn’t know that about me is because I was ashamed of it. Which doesn’t really make a lot of sense, because I loved playing in the orchestra and I love music. I wasn’t very open about telling people that I was in orchestra and even when people would ask me if I was in orchestra, I would say, Yeah, but it’s only because my mom was making me do it, which wasn’t true. I was like that all the way until I graduated high school, and I regret it a lot because it was something I enjoyed doing so much and I wish I wouldn’t have cared what other people thought about it. Being up at camp has shown me a lot about why being my true self is important.

What I want you guys to remember when you get home from camp this week is that feeling of being able to be your true self.

God made you the way you are for a reason and you shouldn’t be ashamed of being the way you are because you are made perfect in God’s image.

Some of the Spirit in the Pines staff from Summer 2025 (Ryan is second row, third from the left)