This summer I had the opportunity to work as a high ropes instructor/girls counselor at a YMCA camp. At one point (after I had been there for about ten weeks) I was presented with the opportunity to volunteer at Grace Adventures for a week because we had too many staff for the incoming group at our camp. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to be back at Grace, and off I went (after some very frustrating car trouble of course...).
There was a stark contrast between Grace and the other camp that I worked at, which I knew full well, but saw the results of very quickly. Even though many of the summer staff at Grace were "new" this summer (meaning they hadn't been on summer staff previously), I felt very welcome and was able to make some great new friends! The camp that I was officially working at was very challenging. I was seriously pushed, maybe shoved, out of my comfort zone....and it was just hard. So to have a break for a week and be welcomed at Grace was a wonderful thing, and a soft preparation of what was to come.
The summer theme at Grace Adventures was Spotlight, coming from 1 John 1:5-10. From the time I stepped foot onto Grace Adventures property, I felt like every message spoken, song sung, devotional given, God sighting shared, was for me to hear specifically...which became overwhelming rather quickly. We talked about being in the darkness, and how God is light. A thought that I either heard or thought through on my own (I can't remember), was that if we accept God's light, we can shine His light into the darkness around us, which can be tricky and exhausting, especially if we don't have the support of others shining their lights with us. Without them, it can feel like we have to constantly spin around to see what darkness is creeping up behind us where we can't see it.
Something else happened that week that I didn't really process through until it was mentioned at staff huddle as a God Sighting the next morning was this. The campers at Grace participate in Plinko Mail. The girls' cabin and boys' cabin with the most mail at dinner each night send up a representative to play Plinko Mail. Instead of earning points, however, each disk would land in a space with a reward card--anything from counselors getting buried in the sand, blobbed, or a pie in the face, to the cabin staying up later, getting a snack, choosing a theme for the next day, etc. One day, the Tim Team (high school service crew) decided to gang up on Ben, the program director. At dinner that night, the Plinko Mail options were all about Ben; Ben gets a pie in the face, Ben gets thrown in the lake, Ben gets blobbed, Tim Team decides Ben's fate, or Mystery Box (filled with things about Ben). As it turned out, Ben was due for a pie in the face and to be thrown in the lake. The dining hall suddenly broke out in chant "Ben in the lake! Ben in the lake!" As they surrounded Ben, he took off his glasses, emptied his pockets, and prepared to be grabbed by the chanting crowd. Everyone was having fun.
Or so it seemed. Amidst the cheering, excited, chanting crowd, a few heads turned at the sound of a wail. "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Came the cry of Ben's little girl, sitting on the picnic table, watching this take place. From her perspective, a MOB of big kids is yelling, loud, as they grab her dad and carry him off to torture him. That, of course, is not what was happening, but that is what she saw. We tried to console her, but to no avail. All she wanted was daddy and no one could convince her that it was going to be okay. But then, above all the wailing and chanting, we hear a calm, strong voice say "Gina Grace, I love you," as they carried Ben off.
I don't know if Gina heard her dad tell her that he loved her, but when it was brought up at staff huddle the next morning, it really got me thinking. Amidst the chaos, and what seems like torture and overwhelming darkness, if we focus in on God, He is ready and willing to tell us that He loves us and it will be okay. He knows what's really going on, and how it fits into His grand plan, even if we can't. Throughout the week I was reminded that if I kept my focus on God when I returned to camp to counsel, I could shine His light, and even if it felt like darkness and chaos was closing in around me, I would be okay, because God would still be in control. I could be the light that so many would need to see.
Needless to say, it was a good week.
