But Jesus called to them saying,
“Permit the children to come unto Me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
Camp season is coming soon. When I picture kids racing to their cabins, bags and towels and pillows in tow, my heart skips a beat. Their joy brings back memories of church camp at Riverside Camp in Cedar Falls, the highlight of my childhood summers. The four hour drive was interminable. Dad smoked his pipe and sang wacky songs while the sibs and I fought in the back seat. Mom drove while riding herd on us, ignoring our desperate pleas for ice cream and potty breaks.
Once we arrived at Riverside, us yahoos, now quivering with excitement, tumbled out of the car, and raced headlong into a week of kid magic. Tumbledown cabins packed to the gills with campers. New friends and glamorous counselors. A swimming pool with no admission fee. Crafts in the church basement and chapel in the tabernacle. Songs in the mess hall. Bible studies around a bonfire each night. Around that bonfire one night, the Christ who I’d known was real for many years, became my conscious decision, the eternal Magic I would follow the rest of my life.
Many years later, our kids became Hidden Acres campers, attending summer after summer. A mere thirty miles away, the drive was too short for ice cream withdrawal or potty breaks. But it was long enough for quivering excitement to take hold. When their feet hit camp soil, they were off, running full tilt toward a week of kid magic – the swimming hole, riding horses, chapel, and their ultimate favorite: playing capture the flag IN THE DARK.
At the end of each week, we brought them home, tired, grubby, and full of stories. One year I asked Allen why his soap, washcloth, and towel were pristine and unused. “They sent us in for showers, but didn’t check to see if we got wet,” he said, and then launched a spirited discussion about the book of Revelation, which his counselor explained during their daily Bible studies.
One rainy year, we found Anne in a mud puddle searching for sticks and leaves and stones. After we got her home and hosed her down, she described how her counselor kept them safe when a summer storm hit. “She showed us what to do in bad weather.”
“Were you scared?” I inquired.
“Why would I be scared?” she asked. “God was listening to us pray.”
Christ was listening and waiting for me to come to Him at church camp when I was ten. He waited for Allen and Anne at Hidden Acres, too. How different our lives would be if a lack of funds had kept us from meeting Him there.
The lives of GCC kids will also be different if a lack of funds keeps them from camp this summer. But by eating tacos and bidding on desserts, or by contributing to the camp scholarship fund later, we are permitting our kids to encounter Christ at Hidden Acres. What an opportunity to guide our kids toward the eternal Magic of the soul!
