PREPARED

Late June 2026: It was staff training week for Nature Camp. More than 20 young adults from

across the country had gathered at Koinonia to learn, play, and grow together before

welcoming more than 160 campers from the surrounding community.

During one of the few breaks in the training day, Fox, one of the last counselors to arrive, sat

making friendship bracelets with a small group of fellow staff members. As they worked,

they talked about their hopes and expectations for the summer ahead. The conversation

meandered until someone raised a practical question: What would they do if a camper

forgot a towel or water bottle on a camp day?

Fox spoke up. He said he would simply let the camper use his own towel or water bottle for

the day. Another staff member asked, “Well, what if they forget to give it back?” Without

looking up from his bracelet, Fox shrugged and replied matter-of-factly:

“I’m prepared to lose everything.”

Those few words carry a lot of weight at Koinonia. In Romans 12:1, Paul calls us to offer

ourselves as living sacrifices in response to God’s mercy. Throughout the summer, we

witnessed our Nature Camp staff answering that call again and again.

Sometimes, that sacrifice looked like staying up late to create costumes from paper and

fabric. Other times, it meant cutting a break a little short or giving a third helping of tortilla

chips. In big and small ways, these incredible young adults chose to set aside their own

comfort to serve something bigger than themselves.

The counselors entered the summer with clear eyes and open hearts, ready to laugh, love,

and work together to create a place of belonging - where every child could experience the

healing love of God through their daily witness. It’s that willingness to lose everything in

service to others that makes Nature Camp special for everyone blessed enough to

experience it.

Thankfully, Fox didn’t lose his towel or his water bottle. But he did leave a piece of himself

behind at Koinonia - in the hearts of his campers and in the memories they made together.

His impact will live on in the friendship bracelets adorning their wrists and, in the stories,

they share for summers to come.

Perhaps that is what it means to be prepared to lose everything—not to leave with nothing,

but to give of ourselves so generously that something meaningful remains long after we’re

gone.