My column in this week’s Guide magazine is about the Drawing & Painting Honor and a few weeks last spring that I spent at Chesapeake Union’s summer camp, Mount Aetna Retreat Center. Be sure to grab a copy of Guide magazine at your local SDA Church and check out the story.

Some of the best stories in my life have been at summer camps. There’s people that think summer camps and Pathfinders aren’t related, but they are wrong. A lot of summer camps used to teach Pathfinder Honors. Sadly many camps have departed from this. But that it doesn’t mean you can’t complete a lot of requirements for certain honors while at camp. Be sure to sit down with your parents, counselors, and leaders after summer camp is over to see if there’s an honor that you’ve completed. Or have your camp counselor pull up the requirements for the honor and see if you can’t get them all done at camp by doing a little extra.

Finally you might be thinking my family can’t afford it. That’s ok. Talk to your local SDA pastor now. Often there is money to support such things either in the church budgets, or there are members of the church that are willing to make sure that each youth has chance to attend. Or pray about it and see if God will open another door. If you really want to go, money will not stop the Giver of All from getting you there even if it means you have to shovel snow or cut grass for neighbor for a few weeks.