So last week I was the speaker at a teen camp and it was awesome! I saw some guys I went to college with and it turns out they love Jesus now too. It was really funny because we all said we were jerks in college but all seem to want to be friends now. So that was pretty awesome. The food was pretty good there and everybody at the camp was so friendly.
There was this one activity called Dorm or Dump of the Day. We would go into each room and determine whether or not it had a chance for Dorm or Dump of the Day. Now the criteria was 1. Temperature 2. Odor 3. Organization 4. Bribe. Now the most important part of it was really the bribe, they could leave behind $, snacks, soda, or whatever for this bribe. So the bribe could push you from being so so to winning. Now if you were the dorm of the day then you got to go through the lunch line first, but if you were dump of the day you had to go and clean your room before you could go eat. So it was pretty fun.
In the mornings I did sort of a narrative character study sort of thing. I told the stories of Elijah, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. It was an interesting time and a little out of my comfort box because I am an expository preacher. So it forced me to take a different angle which was a good thing and I feel as though I grew from it. The kids seemed to like it because of the costumes I had on during it. I told the stories in the first person and it was interesting to try and get into the mindset of each one. I even grew my beard out, which I still need to cut off since it itches. Mindy had a good idea that I should have done, but to put baby powder on my hair and beard to look like an old man. That would have been awesome for Noah especially!
I preached twice and about sweat through my clothes completely while doing it. I don't know what it is but I seem to sweat a ton, even if I'm not doing something active. I even used to sweat a lot when I was skinny. I must have large pores lol. The other nights I didn't preach we went to Logan Campground to hear Billy Huddleston and a missionary speaker from Ukraine. Both very good and I am pretty sure the teens liked them. There was a good response every service and I was so happy about that!
Well it was Friday about midday and we got word that one of the teens, Jake Walls, had fallen while doing the hiking elective. We were not sure of how bad it was and we just thought it was like a broken bone or something, but it turned out it was way worse than that. He was up on a large rock about 50 ft and fell. He was unconscious but his breathing and heartbeat was strong on his own. Well the guy who was heading up the hiking elective is a fire fighter and an EMT. He was at the back of the line to make sure nobody fell behind and once Jake fell he was the first one there. The wierd thing is that everybody in front of him never saw him go past them, but yet he was there already when they came down the trail. He said he just went down the trail. God was at work.
They took him to a local hospital and worked on him there, but realized they needed to transport him to Children's Hospital in Columbus. They put him into an ambulance after doing 3 transfusions on him and gave them 3 more to do on the way there. I'm pretty sure your entire body only has 6 total transfusions. They were able to reach the hospital but shortly after he passed away.
It was a sad day as we had to tell the youth group from our church this news and be there for comforting. I wanted to cry too, however I knew in this circumstance I needed to be the strong one. It was amazing how strong some of them were though, one boy in particular spoke up after about 1 minute and said "Guys. He's with Jesus." Wow, I know I would not have thought to say that as soon as he did if my best friend died. The campus we were on had a somber tone to it as all of the students sort of realized that he was only 15 and that was too close to their age to ignore. Earlier on that week he had lead a girl from the youth group to Jesus and testified that God was calling him to do something. He said that he didn't know why God would use him and how he felt so unworthy of such a calling.
We had several grief counselors come and helped the teens from the youth group walk through some emotions that were going on. Then we had everybody get together in the chapel and the grief counselor walked all of the kids through what had gone on with the kids from our youth group. Then we opened up the altar to anybody who needed to pray, cry, or whatever. They were so flooded you couldn't even reach the platform. It was good because you could tell they needed to release some of the stuff that was built up inside. Well at the end of that we took the teens from our youth group home to be with their parents.
It was a tough day from the point we found out on. We prayed so much for Jake and his parents and the teens who were close friends of his. I think one of the hardest things was not knowing what was going on. But then again at the same time I was one of the first ones that knew anything. I don't know which was worst, knowing and having to not tell, or not knowing and wanting to. Either way it was a horrible day. As I step back and look at it though I know God has a plan. I may not always know the plan He has, however I do know that it is perfect. I do love the fact that in his last days Jake was leading people to Christ. I would love to be remembered like that.
Please pray for the families involved, the counselors that were there, the teens, camp directors, and pretty much everybody at the camp. We need your prayers as we work through this and process what happened. It is sad to have a life so young, 15, taken, but if it is what God wants then I cannot fight that. I hope that the kids will take a life lesson out of this that life is fragile, and we never are promised our next moment. We must live accordingly.
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