When someone comes to camp as a camper, it is our goal to pour ourselves out for them as a sacrifice and service to our Lord. God is certainly pleased with our small efforts, but His goals are so much more vast and fabulous than what we can imagine. Scruff and I realized this anew as we sat in church the other day, listening to one of our former campers as he preached the sermon.

A number of years ago I wrote about a particular week of Sr. High camp that was especially meaningful. One of our conselors, Frodo, was hoping that his little brother could be a camper. The problem, Ryan was confined to a wheelchair. How could they navigate the rough and tumble of camp with Ryan wheelchair bound?

For the full story go ahead and click back in time and read HERE.

Ryan is in his twenties now. He did indeed come to camp. He also went to college and is mentoring others in the Lord. Occasionally we will see him at church when we visit Mid Valley Baptist in Dryden. Scruffy and I packed up the boys and attended church in Dryden the other day since they had given him the chance to speak about camp. We saw Ryan and his parents in the front pew. They rushed over to exchange hugs and exclaimed, “We didn’t know you would be here this week!” Unbeknownst to us, Ryan was the guest speaker.

So there we were, being taught and ministered to by a young man who had been our camper. We sat in rapt attention as Ryan preached, learning from his journey and his study of God’s word. Full circle.

You find out pretty quick, as a camp counselor, that the children teach you so much. You come expecting to give and teach and impart some of yourself. You leave realizing how small you are when standing before the vast expanse of God’s glory at work. They teach you, these children. When they are young and later as they grow strong and tall in the Lord.

A kid who appeared to require so much assistance from us, was the one who ministered to us, then and now. Sure, the guys lifted his wheelchair over logs and dragged him up that mountainside. But Ryan’s story is just humming with the power of God. Power that we cannot quantify or explain. Power that we must simply stand back and observe, clutching at our hearts and hoping that we will walk away in one piece, or if not in one piece, perhaps in a better arrangement of pieces than what we were before. From something that at first appears to be a stance of weakness, God can bring about the kind of victory that just blasts you off your feet.  Our expectations are constantly being shattered by all that God can do. To hear Ryan’s complete sermon click HERE and remember that God walks among us in all His glorious splendor and gentle love. To Him, the miracle is the mundane. 

Boo Boo