The Heritage Experience
“Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures.”
Ever heard that phrase?
That’s what the Boy Scouts from the Greater Pittsburgh Council (our hosts this week) expect of us during our visit to their home—Heritage Reservation.
There have been a lot of footprints left here since 1996, the first summer we came to this special place as guests. And a lot of mental pictures (memories) have been taken away from here. This is our 13th summer to come as the United Youth Camp program. And a lot of people have come through the program. News of a “non-Heritage Heritage party” reached us, held on the Saturday night before camp started! Who was there?
A lot of the “old guard”—the earlier staff members and campers who have left their footprints here. And they talked about the “old days,” the friends they made, the lessons they learned, the desire they still have to stay connected to those friends and lessons. To walk together to the Kingdom.
This place and this experience have impacted their lives. They have taken those memories with them, and they stay connected through the attachment to the camp program to many who will be part of their lives forever—literally!
What will you take with you from Camp Heritage, 2008? Experiences never before tried? New friends, whose names you didn’t even know a week ago? The comedian Will Rogers is reputed to have said “I’ve never met a person I didn’t like.” Then there’s another phrase—“There are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met.”
The activities are great. The chance to do new things is eye-opening. The sense of accomplishment in mastering a new skill is gratifying. All together, it adds up to “I can’t wait until next year!” But underlying it all is something much deeper and harder to explain. It has to do with those strangers who’ve become friends. So… enjoy the activities, tackle new challenges, learn a new skill. But don’t forget the intangibles… the footprints and the pictures (especially the mental snapshots of this week).
Who knows when and where the bonds of life-long friendships begin?
Maybe for you it will turn out to have been the summer of 2008, at a place in southwestern Pennsylvania called “Heritage.”
See you in 2009!
-Doug Johnson
Director, Camp Heritage