Welcome Happy Campers To Camp CAACONAA

"Come as a child or not at all
Suck in your gut and get real small
Make like a baby and learn to crawl
Come as a child or not at all?
-Theo

Tonight is the 5th official Camp CAACONAA!

Camp CAACONAA (CC) is a ministry I put together with my buddy Jeff. It's a campout where Dad's can bring one of their kids with the express purpose of bonding a little deeper with him/her. The idea is that our kids need special time with their fathers. Knowing that Dad's have a hard time dedicating time for their kids, we've designed CC to help them drop the busy-ness that consumes them, get on the floor and play, and ultimately, turn their hearts back to their kids.

In the winter, we hold Kinder CAACONAA for the little ones, age 3-6. It's an indoor, living room style, campout at our church. Dads bring tents and set them up in the auditorium. Some even drape blankets over a couple chairs for the ultimate living room fort. That's what we're doing tonight. I'm taking my 5 year old boy.

In the picture above, you see the reason for Camp CAACONAA. From the left; Jeff's Dad Thurston, Jeff's son J, Jeff, Me, my daughter P, and my Dad Fred.

This photo was taken at the 3rd CC this past summer. Jeff and I wanted to show our own Dads their fathering legacy. We wanted them to see what their good fathering fostered in our own lives. We invited them to join us at CC to see it for themselves.

There were 50 father/child pairs there that day, all of them playing together, holding hands, having deep conversations, and otherwise goofing off.

This is the legacy of our Fathers. They gave us quality one-on-one time when we were young. We valued that time. We needed that time. They gave us that time.

Now, we aim at doing the same for our own kids. We want other Dads, who may not have valued, or even had, the time with their own Dads, to begin to understand their value to their kids. We want them to prioritize one-on-one time.

Two weeks after this photo was taken, while Jeff and I were leading the 4th CC, Jeff's Dad died in his sleep. God graciously gave Jeff the chance to honor his father in a special way, that one last time.

We cannot know how much time we have left to spend quality time with our children or our parents. We don't have time to fritter away the moments we do have.

Make time. It's imperative.