Dear Prayer Coordinators,
Last
week I was blessed with two amazing, young men as my campers. The first of
which was Phil, a returning camper who came to camp with many anger issues.
He hadn’t been in a couple of years and came back claiming to have this great
relationship with God. During our first one-on-one he shared his testimony with
me and explained how he had an abusive father and a drug addict mother. He had
bounced from group home to group home since he was eight years old. He was
angry and felt as though he had been dealt a bad hand in life. My second camper
was Jim. Jim made it to camp at around 5pm on Monday, shortly after being taken
off the roster. Jim was late because he was on his way back from another camp
and had just enough time to clean up. Jim was a first time camper and came with
a very different struggle. His father had been in prison since before he was
born and his mother was also a drug addict. He had recently given his life to
Christ and was really seeking God in his life. Although he was a Christian, he was
incredibly negative about everything we did. He didn’t like the tents, food,
games, schedule – the list goes on and on. He and I would have great
conversations about God and the Bible, but as soon as the conversation was over
he would be negative again. As the week progressed both of these young men had amazing victories.
As
the week progressed Phil's anger became more obvious, with his buttons
becoming easier to push. He started to lose patience with the other campers. As
it progressed I found out it was not so much anger at others, but a fear of
what was going to happen after he left camp. He told me that before he came up
to camp his Aunt told him she was going to adopt him. This gave him a great
deal of happiness, but sadly also brought up feelings of rejection and
insecurities. Apparently, this wasn’t the first time someone told him that they
were going to adopt him. He was fearful of being rejected again. Thankfully, as
the week came to a close he found comfort in God. While all of this was going
on, Jim was working through some struggles. He had a difficult time enjoying
himself at camp because of his negative attitude. He shared with me his younger
foster brother had come up before and did not like it. So his impression of
camp was negative even before he came. It was on Wednesday, however, that he
realized he truly did enjoy camp. His attitude slowly started to change. He
grew in his relationship with the Lord and was even able to share his
testimony. It was his first time ever sharing his testimony, which was a very
freeing experience for him. After he shared, he told me that it felt like a
weight was lifted from him. In the end, he loved camp and everyone was able to
see his joy as well.
Even
though I only had two campers there was a third camper in my tent. We had many
different conversations at night, but a few stuck out to me. The first of which
was that they had many questions about the reality of God’s love. This led to a
great conversation on what love truly is and how we should show it to others.
The second happened on the last night of camp. One of the guys asked me why I
had lent my jacket to a girl at campfire that night, considering that it was
the coldest night and I was clearly cold after doing so. This simple question
opened the door for me to share with them what being a man is, and not just any
man, but a godly man. At the beginning of the week these three young men had
all sorts of dysfunction going on around them, but by the end of the week
though they were able to find comfort and normalcy in God and His love for
them. Praise the Lord! While they still had problems when they left, they were
able and willing to seek God in them. Thank you for
praying for these guys throughout the week. Your prayers are powerful!
In
Christ,
Kris, Staff-Counselor
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