It doesn’t take long to be forgotten. Don’t believe me? Make a visit to your high school. The trees will be bigger, the campus will have changed and nothing will look the way you remember it. But those things won’t really matter that much—what will bother you is that the people have changed. You’ll walk down the hall, expecting to see familiar faces. Instead you’ll see nothing but strangers. You had that locker for three years, but the girl who owns it now won’t really care. You’ll feel old and strangely insecure and uneasy that this place you used to own now seems so foreign. To say they have forgotten you would be a fallacy—they never even knew you to begin with.

Let me be transparent: my goal for Hume’s alumni program is to avoid the scene I just described. Our camp transforms, our ministry grows, and the faces change. This doesn’t mean that our history should be forgotten. From the very beginning of this ministry, God has woven lives in and out of the tapestry of Hume Lake’s story. And each life has made a difference. I am passionate about the history of Hume Lake Christian Camps. God’s hand truly has been over Hume and I am constantly amazed at how he continues to guide and sustain us. I am even more passionate about the people who have been a part of Hume’s amazing story. They are each a member of our family. Family is never forgotten. We talk about family members long after they are gone. We look at pictures, we tell stories, and we remember. We welcome them home with open arms and look forward to their visits; because there are things you share with family that no one else will ever understand.