RSSAn amazing week
Jul 25
I slept until noon today. It was the most refreshing sleep I had gotten in a while. Over the past week, sleep was a precious, limited commodity.
Yesterday, I returned from spending a week as a church camp sponsor with our group from the First Baptist Church of Magnolia. We took about 40 kids to the Ozark Baptist Encampment at Grove, Oklahoma. Since it’s been about 10 years since I’ve even been a camper at church camp, and since I had never been to this particular camp, I had no idea what to expect. I remembered what we had done as campers in the past, so I feared for the worst. Luckily, the 21 boys who went were the absolute best any sponsor could ever ask for.
I had several “favorite” parts about church camp, but the top of my list takes the cake. On Wednesday night after the service, I noticed two of our boys sitting in one of the open-air tabernacles on the camp grounds. I walked over to see what they were doing, and I could hear one of the boys telling the other about Jesus. How amazing! I got excited and sat down. Once there was a few minutes of silence, I cut in and made sure the boy understood the story of the Gospel. Then he prayed and accepted Jesus as his savior. I was on a high for the rest of the night! It might not have happened had that one boy taken the time to tell his friend about Jesus.
Another favorite moment of mine came one day during quiet time. Each day after lunch, the campers were to go to their bunks and read their Bibles, reflect on their relationship with God, or take a nap. The sponsors most frequently took the latter. The key point is that they were to be quiet. On Thursday, the sponsors in our cabin were late getting to quiet time, and I expected to return to a bunch of wild boys chasing each other with pool sticks (this had been the scene most of the week). However, I was wrong. I walked in the cabin to find every boy on his bunk with his Bible open. I was floored. God does still work miracles!
I never knew being a sponsor at church camp would be so much fun, either. Each day after the campers had swim time, there was a time set aside and dedicated for sponsors to go swimming. There were three water slides at the pool, and I personally tested each of them. It was fun. I also participated in the sponsor vs. camper softball game. The campers had an unfair advantage in that the Gravette High School baseball team was playing their infield positions. We lost. I proved my non-athlete status.
Softball wasn’t the only game during which I was on the losing team. I played “human fooseball” on Thursday night. Picture a life-size foose ball table with real people kicking the ball around. Yeah, it was fun, but we lost. I, in turn, was covered from head to toe in dirt.
More important than the games and fun we had at camp was the absolutely amazing worship we experienced. The presence of God could be felt in every service, and souls were saved each day. There were about 50 during the week we were there. Dustin Wisely, youth pastor at FBC Magnolia, was the camp evangelist. God spoke through Dustin in a great way. He challenged each of us to live our lives in a continual state of worship. I must admit that I needed the sermons and lessons just as much as any camper did.
I’m already looking forward to the next youth trip on which I get to be a sponsor. There’s just something about seeing hundreds of kids experiencing the joy and love of Christ that excites me! I’ve got a feeling that I’ll have my opportunity.
For now, I guess I’ll look forward to returning to my small, windowless office on Monday. Hey, at least I have a new desk chair that was delivered while I was gone.
