Upon Returning from Children's Camp

In the midst of my own mini personal crisis my phone rings (the phone is quiet under no circumstances it seems!) and I long to let it just go and listen to the message later. But, against my will I answer. The voice on the other end has a favor to ask of me; would I be interested in being a counselor at Children’s Camp? There is a second of hesitation on my part, but only that, for I had longed to be a part of this. When I was far away, lying lonely in my foreign bed wishing for home and missing VBS, I had been thinking of Camp. Strange for me, I know, to have this desire, but yet I could not deny that I had wished I could go. And here was my chance. I didn’t let myself get caught up in self pity for being at home when I should have been on the Field, in fact I was secretly thanking the Lord for this opportunity that I didn’t foresee having.

Then Monday morning was there and the chaos was, well, a little overwhelming. After having to turn away one girl who was in tears, “what were you thinking??” began to creep into my mind. All of my fears melted quickly away once we arrived, sheltered snugly in the North Carolina woods and standing smack in the middle of God’s country, green rolling and swaying in time to the quiet, heavenly music of nature.

Maybe it was solely the Lord’s providence or a combination of the beauty of the earth and the sweetness of the Lord’s hand at work in the lives and on the faces of his children, but I was quickly smitten. Being the shy creature that I am, I took it easy with the songs that required lots of hand motions nor did I swim in the lake(though I was sorely tempted to brave the dangers of lake water…don’t even ask!) but by the end of the week I think I was more sad to say goodbye to Camp Willow Run than the kids were.

And perhaps it is simply the rapture of experiencing God on the mountain top, when the ordinary is transfigured into the divine before your eyes that truly stole my heart. There is nothing greater than coming face to face with the beauty of Christ; of waking to echo the song he has sung over me while I was asleep, of sharing your life and faith with a child who sits in pure trust, of praising him with abandon and innocence, of viewing his magnificent creation, both nature and children just as glorious and wondrous as the other.

I must say that the Lord works in mysterious ways, as I have been told, but never how I imagined. He used my surrender to service as healing and blessing, not of labor and burden. Many people came and thanked me for volunteering, as I am sure they did for all the workers and counselors. And yet their thanks seemed unnecessary- I felt I should be the one thanking them for allowing me to go and receive the blessing!