Term 2: Special Sunday Activities

Sundays at Camp Balcones Springs are special. Campers have a day off from their regular activity programming and instead spend the day all together for some fun, competition, and reflection. Meanwhile, our dedicated Work Crew campers get the day off from their kitchen and maintenance duties to venture outside of camp for some r&r before the next week of work begins.

For those of us back at camp, the first highlight of the day comes with our camp Baseline service. Each Sunday morning at CBS, we gather in our lakeside amphitheater to sing songs together, share cabin skits, and hear a special speech from a visiting camp friend. This term, we welcomed Dominique Martinez, former Camp Balcones Springs counselor and leadership staff member, as well as NCAA soccer player, UT McCombs Business School graduate, and Fullbright Scholar! Yeesh – we are so proud of Dom, and so lucky she had time to come back and share some wisdom with us.

Dom gave an inspired talk that had campers and counselors reflecting on it throughout the day. The message centered on our summer theme of joy and fruits of the spirit, taken from the Bible verse in Galatians 5:22-23. We’ve included a copy of Dom’s talk below if you’d like to follow along at home.

The second highlight of the day came via our annual Ted 10,000 sporting events at Balcones Beach. These swim and relay races are long-standing camp traditions, held every term, and consist of three swim races of various lengths: the Ted 10,000, 5,000 and 2,000. The day also includes a Phun Run road race and a Splash ‘N Dash swim/run relay event. Girls and boys of all ages and cabins are permitted to enter, and the entire event is monitored by lifeguards and coaches to ensure camper safety throughout. After the races conclude, all campers enjoy ice cream sundaes together on Balcones Beach as the sun sets.

Keep Camp Joyful – The Fruits That Don’t Grow on Trees—They Grow on Us!

Today, I’m here to talk to y’all about your camp theme this summer – “Keep camp joyful,” which is focused on one of my favorite verses of all time, Galatians 5:22-23 – which talks about the “fruits of the spirit.” It can be a confusing verse because it’s using the word fruit, but let’s talk about it!

Look! What a beautiful bowl of fruit! Let’s take a look—here’s an apple, an orange, (etc). Anyone know what this is??? [pause] It’s a kiwi!! Fruit is delicious—right? There are so many different kinds, so even if you don’t like one, you probably like some other kind of fruit! BUT NOT ONLY DOES IT TASTE GOOD - most fruit is good for you too! Like an ORANGE – an orange gives you vitamin C, which is supposed to help us from getting sick. It’s supposed to help fight off colds. Apples? “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” right? We give apples to teachers to say thank you sometimes too, right? Yeah, they’re good.

But today we are not here to talk about the kind of fruit you can eat. It’s about a different kind of fruit —not the kind you can find at the grocery store. And not the kind that grows on trees, but instead this kind of fruit grows in us. It’s called: the Fruit of the Spirit. So what does that even mean? How can fruit in grow me? I’m not a tree! Well, think about this: If you see an apple tree, what do you expect to grow on it? Apples, right? If it’s a banana tree, it grows bananas. In the same way, when someone believes in Jesus and follows Him, we should expect to see something grow in their life. And that “something” is what the Bible calls fruit—but not the kind you can bite. It’s an analogy. These FRUITS are qualities, behaviors, and attitudes that come from letting God work in your heart.

Let’s read the verse that we’re learning this summer–Galatians 5:22–23 says: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” When we trust Jesus and invite Him into our lives, something really amazing happens. The Holy Spirit–God’s Spirit–comes to live in our hearts. And just like an apple tree grows apples, people who follow Jesus grow something too—they grow these nine fruits I just read. They’re not hanging from our arms or sprouting from our ears—but they show up in how we act and who we are becoming.

That’s nine kinds of fruit that verse mentions. Can you say them with me? 1. LOVE 2. JOY 3. PEACE 4. PATIENCE 5. KINDNESS 6. GOODNESS 7. FAITHFULNESS 8. GENTLENESS 9. SELF CONTROL

Let’s talk about each of them, explain what they mean quickly, and see what they look like in real life. Maybe you’ll find you’re already growing some of this fruit—or maybe there’s a fruit God wants to help you grow more of. Let’s see!

Now—do you always get all nine of these right? Are you always patient? Always loving? Always kind? I’ll go first—I’m not. There are days when I’m grumpy, when I lose my temper, when I don’t want to share, or when I don’t feel like being kind. But here’s the good news—God knows we mess up sometimes, and He loves us anyway.When we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit then comes to live in our hearts. He helps us grow this kind of fruit I just listed. not all at once, but little by little. and just like a real tree, it takes time. We start to change from the inside out. And you know what that change looks like? Suddenly, Wwen you want to yell, but instead you’re calm—that’s self-control. When you’re kind to someone who isn’t kind back—that’s kindness. When you wait your turn at the snack shack without complaining—that’s patience. When you forgive someone who hurt your feelings—that’s love. When you stay positive even when homesick—that’s joy.

Now this kind of internal change…it can’t be faked for long. Either this fruit is real and growing in you, or it’s not. Let’s compare two kinds of fruit.

1. Fresh Fruit: You would eat this fresh fruit in this bowl right? I mean It smells good, looks good, and it’s real. Some people’s lives offer fresh fruit like love and joy to the people around them. It is refreshing and feels nice to receive.
2. Rotten Fruit: Would you eat the fruit in this bowl? Ew. You wouldn’t want to eat that. If you did, you might get sick!! Other people have rotten fruit growing inside them – like hate and jealousy, and that makes them and others around them sick too. Also.. big sniff This smells! Because it’s rotten! When we’re full of anger, jealousy, or meanness, our lives stink to others too. Which bowl do you want to eat??? Which one do you want your life to be like???

Now lets talk about why this matters. Remember when I asked: If you see apples on a tree, what kind of tree is it? Right! So if someone sees love, peace, and kindness in your life… what kind of person do you think that shows them you are? When you show this kind of fruit (the 9), people DO notice. They’ll wonder – how you can have peace when things are scary? Or how you can be gentle when someone is rude to you? And then—get this—your life can start to help those people. Help those people want to grow that kind of fruit too! They’ll start to learn more about God, and being a good person, just by knowing… you.

So campers… here is you challenge for this week: Pick ONE Fruit of the Spirit to practice. Just one. Here’s a few quick example to guide you this week. If you choose…

Whichever one you want to practice this week, write it down, tell your cabin or your counselor. Whichever one of the 9 you choose —it’s your “camp fruit.” And remember, you can ask God to help you practice!

Some of my dearest friendships today in my adult life came from the relationships I made here at THIS camp. From the campers I counseled. to the co-counselors I had. I love this place very much, and the fruits of the spirit I grew and received from others like Jose, Maggie, and Christine helped shape my experience as CBS.

Lets rock up and pray together.

(Thank You for the reminder that You don’t just want us to do good things—you want to grow good things in us. Help us to be people full of Your Spirit. Help us to love when it’s hard, to stay joyful when life is messy, to be patient with each other, and kind when it’s easier not to be. Grow in us goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—so that our lives look like You. Let our friends, cabinmates, and even strangers see something different in us—something real, something beautiful. We want to grow into people who reflect Your love every day. And When we mess up, because WE WILL, remind us that You still love us and will help us try again. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.)