Lessons from Summer Camp: God has a plan

Growing up there were somethings I could always count on in the summer. One of them was going to Indian Hills Camp for summer camp. As an elementary-age kid, I loved it. Okay, I enjoyed myself minus the dirt and the bugs and the feelings of general uncleanliness. However, junior high camp there for two years was a bust. I lost two of my best friends and literally that's all I remember about those camps. Those summers left their mark and along with other controversies that happened at the camp that summer marred my experience.

So you can imagine my surprise when my church was signed up kids for camp that the first thought in my head was, "I could be a counselor." Whoa. Where did that come from? Camp counselors are usually college kids that are paid about $20 to spend 23 hours with kids a day. However, every time I passed that sign-up sheet I kept thinking about being a counselor which is crazy! My idea of "roughing it" is a Holiday Inn Express.

One Sunday in May, Pastor Bobby approached me and said, "Now, you don't have to say 'yes' or 'no' now, you can think about this, but Indian Hills doesn't have enough counselors for our week at camp and I was wondering..."
"Yes!" burst out of my mouth before he could finish his sentence.
My natural brain is going, "What? I just agreed to go back to camp! To Indian Hills of all places!"
But my heart was saying, "This is the right thing to do. I'm not working, I know the kids and I'm good with kids. They need me."

My brain eventually came around especially since Pastor Bobby and his wife Cheryl would be there too to take care of things.

But life happens and sometimes it's awful. The day before we were to leave for camp, Bobby's dad died. Bobby was in shock. He called the camp telling them he couldn't come. He called me to let me know I was now in charge of signing up and watching out for 30 campers from our church. I was now the official representative of our church. If I had not been going, this past week would have been horrific for Bobby or at least more horrific than it was.

God had a plan. All I had to do was listen and act on what the Holy Spirit had been prompting me to do for weeks.