The Expendables

Wesley Cabin stood on the left side of a field, facing three other cabins. You entered into a common area with three offshoots: one directly in front to the kitchen, one to the right that led into a room with eight bunk beds, and one to the left that led into another room with several bunk beds.  The small bathrooms branched off from the bunk bed rooms.  This is where I would live for the next six days in community with six other counselors and twelve kids. I wondered how it would be since I have not had a roommate since my college days.

Whether it was the director’s choice or more coincidence, I do not know, but I was placed in a cabin with the older male counselors. And when I say ‘older’ I do not imply frailty or weakness, rather quite the opposite.  For throughout the ensuing week, I gained a deep respect for my fellow soldiers in Christ as we drank coffee together and read our Bibles in the early mornings, laughed together, conversed about life and prayed with each other about the campers and different situations.  We relied upon each other for wisdom, encouragement, and safety.  Though I was a stranger to all of them before the week began, I became part of a band of brothers united in the single cause of Christ to love these kids.  I became a fellow soldier with them in the desperate fight for the hearts of these young boys.  We became a fellowship to the point that when I returned to the apartment and sat alone on the couch at the end of the week, I said aloud, “Lord, I miss my brothers.”   

We might not have won a competition for the best decorated cabin (I think all of us would quickly admit that we are not the best interior decorators in the world) but we won the trust and hearts of the boys, something much more precious then treasures on earth. We might have been bald or seasoned with gray hairs but this was our crown of glory and splendor (Proverbs 16:31; 20:29).  We might have even been called the ‘Expendables’ by the younger staff (based on the movie) as we walked up to breakfast on the first day but we took it as a complement—it was all in good fun. We have waged spiritual battles in the past and we came together for this week to fight for the hearts and lives of these young boys.

So I am grateful for the company of Gregg, Tom G., Tom H., Burt, Mike and Sunny.

Someone once said that ‘a boy becomes a man in the company of men.’  Since the young boys (and girls) who come to Royal Family Kids Camp come from foster homes, they typically come from a broken home with a past loaded with unwanted baggage.  If any statistic is even distant to what is accurate, then chances are very good that none of them have a good father figure in their lives.  They may even cringe when it comes to being in the presence of a man.  Yet here is where the ‘Expendables’ came into action.

I watched Gregg and Tom G. faithfully arise early in the morning to read God’s word and pray for their campers.  A few campers occasionally made it up in the early mornings and witnessed this.  I observed the fatherly care of Tom H. to his two campers and watched them open to the light of God’s love in his life.  I heard Burt’s humor and watched how it brought a glimmer of hope and laughter to his campers. I listened to the intensity of Mike’s concern while I talked with him and listened to him pray for the campers. And Sunny, our alternate counselor, was willing to help out where he could. 

And so the ‘Expendables’ came alongside of the boys (and girls when opportunity presented itself) and became a father figure to them.  We sat next to the children as they pounded nails into wood, aided them to shoot with a bow and arrows, jumped in the swimming pool in the early mornings or afternoons and splashed around with them, placed worms on hooks for them to fish, sat next to them on hayrides and listened and talked with them during the few days we were with them.  We ate with them, cleaned up tables with them, and cheered them on during the talent show and so much more.

Never underestimate a godly man’s presence or words, no matter how old he is in earthly years.  For even though he may be old in earthly years, his heart beats with the youth of eternity.

But I must return to the story…
  
For the campers’ arrival, we made posters with their names on it.  While I have to be careful about privacy issues and the like I will simply call my two campers D-n and D-y.  Both of their names were not in the ‘Name Meaning’ book that the camp had so I had to exercise a little bit of creativity.  While I made D-n’s poster, I said his name meant, ‘Prince of the morning or beginning.’  I drew a sunrise on it and put a few Scripture verses on it. Later, I found out that his favorite color was red and I had put red in the sun.  D-y’s became ‘Prince of the day’ and drew mountains and a sun.

For D-y’s I drew a tree, mountains and a sun. One of the Scripture verses that I wrote on his was Ephesians 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”  The meaning of his name: ‘Prince of the Day.’

Monday morning arrived and like a thousand other counselors in a thousand other camps, we waited anxiously for our campers.  The morning hours quickly passed with learning camp songs and some time on the ropes course.  Then around noon we gathered near the entrance to the camp to cheer the children on as the bus rolled down the driveway. 

A red-velvet carpet stretched out before the entrance way to the bus.  In the midst of our cheers for these precious kids, the director announced each child with a megaphone as they stepped off of the bus.  D-n came off first and then D-y.  I greeted them and handed their poster to them.

Now we were ready to begin the week.

To be continued…

Two Questions

During the Thursday night talent show, the young boy of ten impersonated Mr. Science, the jolly, German accented teacher who taught the kids lessons of ‘Zie Jesus’ with science experiments during the week of camp.  As Beethoven’s music blared over the sound system he ran up and wrote the name ‘Mr. Science’ on the white board. “Hi kids,” he said with a child’s impersonation of Mr. Science’s accent.  He did very well at this.  After a few more words of ‘yah!’ and ‘hi kids,’ he then called Mr. Science’s faithful assistant, Shven to the front.  I ran up to the front dressed in a white jump suit with a small plastic cup of water and set it on the table, awaiting my orders.

“Where did you get your nails done?” he asked in the same accent.

In the best German accent I could muster up, I began, “Ah two little girls.” I glanced out in the crowd to see the two little girls stand and raise their hands with hopeful anticipation to be acknowledged for their wonderful salon style nail painting. “Miss C- and Miss E- painted them for me.”

The young boy then picked up a bottle of orange Ajax dish soap. “Zie Jesus!” he said.

The fellow counselors and kids in the audience replied, “Zie Jesus!”

I then watched as he squeezed the bottle over the small cup of water for about three or four seconds, maybe longer.  It was enough that some of the orange soap settled on the bottom of the cup and slightly raised the level of water.  I anticipated his next words.

“Drink Shven.” He said.

   

I picked up the cup and wondered if I’d be able to stomach it. Would I vomit right then and there or take a trip to the ER for my stomach to be pumped? I did not think it would kill me but who knew?

So how did I end up like this: dressed in a white jump suit with painted nails contemplating the side effects of drinking liquid dish detergent? 

But perhaps I should ask the more important question: why was I wearing a white jump suit with painted nails about to drink a cup full of water and dish detergent?

Two questions but different answers. One answer will tell the story while the other defines the heart.

How? and Why?  

But to answer these two questions I will have to take you back to the beginning of June where my co-worker, Brittany, shared with me about Royal Family Kids Camp. “It is a camp for foster kids,” she explained. “All the counselors cheer for the kids when the bus comes.  They even roll a red carpet down for the kids to walk on when they get off the bus.”  She shared a little bit more about the camp and asked if I would be interested in being a counselor. I replied, “Sure” with a vague concept of the intensity of the week.  But little did I know the patience, humility and love that would be required of me.

She sent a text to the camp director and a few weeks later I sat in the weekend sessions of counselor training near the end of June.  Sometime during the training I suddenly felt my own inadequacy for being a counselor at this camp.  Perhaps you have felt your own inadequacy at something—a flutter of the heart, a flush of the face and a constant wondering if you will have what it takes. 

I have worked with children before, even at a camp.  Some people even make a claim that I am good with them.  Someone once even called me the Pied Piper of children. But as I sat in this training, I knew in my heart that this would be different.  I could not rely on my past experiences with children, my little wit or any of my wisdom.  Those are all good aspects but in truth I would need to rely on something or rather Someone far greater then I for this.  I needed God and his power, his wisdom, and his love to see me through.

And so a few weeks later, I found myself with a bunch of other counselors and staff riding a yellow school bus for an hour/hour and a half.  During our journey I gazed out the window at a town fair, farmhouses with pasture lands and gentle hills all the while wondering what I got myself into. Finally our bus turned onto a bumpy, dirt road that led to the camp.

We were finally here.  We unloaded our luggage and supplies and prepared for the campers' arrival the next day.

To be continued…