Loved Every Minute

Birch Bay Ranch is a little piece of heaven placed on earth for us to be reminded of God's glory and that we are not alone. 

Birch Bay Ranch is a place where kids can grow and be strengthened in their faith and build their character on a firm foundation. It is a place where adults can be kids again. The young and the old get to laugh together, cry together, sing together and praise God for the great and the simple things in life.

I became a christian at the age of 7 and the church that my family was attending had a children's program that had a challenge for any child to memorize certain verses of the Bible. If a child memorized the verses then he/she would win a week at Birch Bay Ranch. I studied and memorized and earned a free week at camp! It was such a great experience. That week I made new friends, learned new songs, rode a horse, and grew closer to God.

Many years later after a camping trip, some of my church friends said that they were going to be summer staff at Birch Bay Ranch. I knew that I wanted to be there too. For 3 summers I was a staff member there and loved every minute of it. Yes, every minute. From the children waking up early in the morning saying that they missed their parents and having to walk to Cedar Lodge to phone them, lining up for lunch and listening to the kids tell me about what adventures they had had that morning, stepping in horse poop and having children laugh at me as only children can do, comforting children with night terrors, children throwing up in the middle of the night and praying for God to heal them, to singing songs at the top of my lungs while my toes squished in the sand down at the campfire.

I remember going to the chapels when I had been a camper and then as a staff member helping to make those chapels just as great as they had been when I was a camper. I remember being afraid of horses and frankly most animals and then not only riding a horse and overcoming that fear, but leading trail rides and helping kids overcome their fears. Birch Bay Ranch has a way of revealing God to us and enabling us to show God to others. It is a place I will never forget.

Callista