“By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.”
I came back to my
accommodations at River Cottage this evening practically walking on air. The chapel service that closed the day had
been amazing. One of the campers had
read Scripture, her peers had all joyfully applauded her, and the whole group,
campers and staff alike, had been swaying and singing arm-in-arm to the tune of
some of my favorite praise songs. It
really doesn’t get any better than that.
Not to mention that during the morning’s teaching session, the kids had
listed their own divine gifts only to discover that their friends and
counselors saw even more divine gifts in them than they could see
themselves. All in all, it had been a
fantastic day during which the rain had completely failed to dampen anyone’s
spirits, and I was delightedly musing on how tightly-knit and loving a
community had formed here in just two short days.
But when I came back to the
cabin, it was not empty. A counselor and
a child, probably about ten years old, had been waiting for me for several
minutes. The child was obviously
distressed and working hard not to burst out in tears. Before I even had a chance to close the door
and sit down, he blurted out, “Father Andy, I saw something scary!” Without any prompting he proceeded to tell me
that he believed he had seen some sort of evil creature in the darkness of his
cabin, one that none of the other boys, all of whom are several years older
than him, could see. It wouldn’t leave
him alone, and he was petrified.
After he had had the chance to
get all this off his chest, I asked him what would make him feel safe for the
night. He said that he would be OK if
someone would sleep next to him. His
counselor said this would be no problem, as half the boys in the cabin were
sleeping on the floor anyway to beat the heat.
So, the Chaplain and I prayed with him and over him, and then we walked
him back to the cabin. I couldn’t
believe what happened next. As he
entered, the cabin erupted in a cheer as the other boys sleeping there joyfully
welcomed him back into their midst.
Faster than my eyes could even keep up, they brought another mattress
down to the floor and made space for him right in their midst, giving him a
spot where he was surrounded on all sides by warm, protecting friends. The boys then asked me to say a prayer for
all of them, which I did, and then I excused myself to the tune of a loud
chorus of “good night!” and “God bless you!”
On the way back to my own
cabin I stopped and wept. Love one
another as I have loved you. These boys
got it in a big way. That divine love,
the fierce kind that would rather die on a cross than let even one little
friend be lost, that’s what I saw this evening.
That is what is being grown at Camp Good Sam. Thanks be to God.
-Andy Lobban
this is incredible!
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