Camp Director Dies Laying Down His Life for His Friends
- Charles Perez
- Jul 9
- 5 min read
COMMENTARY
By David Virtue, DD
July 9, 2025
Dick Eastland was Camp Mystic’s director when he died trying to save young girls amid flash floods in Kerr County, Texas.
There were no thoughts for himself as he reached forth his hands in waist deep water to grasp the girls as the river rose around him.
Was he worried about this month’s mortgage payment, his IRA plan or if his 401(K) was adequately funded for his retirement. Apparently not. Above all he was not thinking about himself, a sea change in thinking from most of us who are daily being hounded about whether a million dollars is necessary for a robust retirement.
Was he thinking about all the people who will enter therapy to find themselves, only to discover they deserve exactly what they find.
The camp was Christian and so was Dick and his wife Tweety who owned and had run the camp since 1974.
Dick and his wife put others first, especially kids. And Dick paid the ultimate price.
He lived out Jesus’ words; “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Dick Eastland did exactly that.
This was not the ‘soft Christianity’ of Archbishop Rowan Williams or the conflicted theology of Archbishop Justin Welby; it was the raw naked theology of life and death amidst rushing waters, uprooted trees with houses and tortured cars rushing by at speeds fast enough to kill elephants.
Of course, Dick Eastland is not the first to lay down his life and he won’t be the last. School teachers have shielded students in classrooms while a gunman runs rampant through the school shooting at everyone, fed by America’s mindless gun laws.
This time it was nature, brutal and heartless, nature red in tooth, claw and roaring waters that took a man’s life and dozens more.
Another man, a dishwasher, laid down his life for his wife and two children when he bled to death trying to help them escape. He died; they lived.
One blogger put it in context when he said this; “Why God Used Two Dead Texans to Expose Worthless Priorities.”
One ran a camp for millionaires’ daughters. One washed their dishes. Both bled out saving others while many are calculating Q3 goals.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends, said Jesus, emphasizing selflessness and sacrifice. This statement is a call to action, not just an abstract ideal.
“While you’re networking for your next opportunity, God’s using corpses to preach better sermons than your pastor,” said a blogger.
“One’s a 27-year-old dishwasher who bled out after punching through glass to save his family. The other’s a camp director with connections to Texas royalty. LBJ’s daughters, oil dynasties, old money that smells like leather and legacy.
“Same flood. Same choice. Same blood.
“That’s when it hit me like a fist to the sternum: The Kingdom of God doesn’t give a darn about your LinkedIn profile.”
“Dick Eastland ran Camp Mystic a century-old institution where Texas aristocracy sends their daughters to learn which fork to use while singing “Kumbaya.”
“When 26 feet of water came hunting, guess what mattered?
“Not Dick’s connections to governors or his real estate portfolio. Dick died trying to rescue girls from the Bubble Inn cabin.”
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -- (John 15:13)
Watching this man die for others reminds us all real cost looks like.
Here’s the ugly truth most of us won’t say out loud, wrote one blogger: “We’ve baptized self-interest and called it ministry. Post to get followers. Serve to get seen. Give to get influence. Love to get loyalty. “Sacrifice” to build brand equity. We don’t count the cost. We count the clicks.”
“Every act is measured. Every relationship, strategic. Every good deed, optimized. It’s not ministry. It’s marketing with a halo.
“Dick Eastland got a grave next to girls he couldn’t pull from the flood.
“No GoFundMe spotlight. No blue-check praise. No speaking circuit. Just death.
“And that’s exactly why their lives preach louder than every polished pastor with a content calendar and a book launch strategy.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
“Camp Mystic wasn’t just a camp. It was a finishing school for nobility. We’re talking girls whose trust funds could buy your ZIP code. Dick could’ve evacuated early with the other elites. He didn’t.
“He died in the mud trying to save other people’s daughters.
“This man had every reason to live. Legacy. Wealth. Influence. But when the water rose, he knew something your favorite Instagram preacher doesn’t: True wealth is measured by what you’re willing to lose, not what you’re trying to gain.”
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth… (Matthew 6:19)
“Dick didn’t just teach girls camp songs. He died with their names in his heart.”
“And then a flood comes and reveals what all our planning was really worth.”
“Dick didn’t consult a crisis manual. They weren’t weighing options. They were bleeding.”
“In that moment, what mattered wasn’t the size of their bank accounts or the safety of their zip code. It was: Who will I die for? And will I hesitate when the time comes?”
If any man come to me, and hate not…his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)
“That’s not poetic. It’s a condition. Jesus was never vague about the cost. Dick paid it in full.”
“We don’t give. We trade. Every act has a motive. Every “service” is brand alignment. Every “blessing” is leverage. But when the flood hits? You don’t check your audience insights. You just act. Or you don’t. And that choice reveals everything.”
Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need… how dwelleth the love of God in him? (1 John 3:17)
“This isn’t a Hollywood movie. He didn’t make it out. He just chose: Them over self. No book deals. No influencer posts. No staged “miracles.” Just love. In blood.”
He laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)
“The flood is here. Digital perversion. Economic pressure. Cultural rot. Spiritual decay. When it hits your door, who will you be? The man protecting his platform? Or the man dragging his family to safety?”
Choose you this day whom ye will serve. (Joshua 24:15)
Think about that when next you feel like whining about some trivial loss. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (Heb. 12:4)
END
Your reverse bigotry is appalling. Not all these girls were super rich. Many came from middle class backgrounds whose families who saved to provide their girls with a great summer experience. While your article was generally good, you missed the mark when discussing these girls. Rich, middle class or poor they died together and now rest together in the arms of their Lord and Savior.