Rising to the Occasion
I awoke early on Tuesday morning during our first week of camp to the sudden sound of silence. It was too quiet. A glance at my alarm clock confirmed that the power was out. The overnight storm must have done some damage. When it didn’t come back on within a few minutes, I began considering the complications. We had 100 campers here for the week. No power would mean no lights, no air-conditioning, and no hot meals. We could get by. The bigger problem was that all of our water comes from wells. No power means no water—no showers, no flushable toilets, and no drinking water. It was going to be a hot day, and we had to keep these kids hydrated.
Fortunately, the power came back on just in time for the cafeteria staff to whip together a hearty breakfast for everyone. Unfortunately, it blacked out again shortly after 10:00 am. This time it stayed off for hours. I felt a little helpless. I was on top of the zipline tower that morning and could do very little to assist with the problem. Our staff, however, rose to the occasion. Some went to a nearby church where they were given permission to fill containers with drinking water. Others filled buckets with water to flush toilets. The cafeteria staff came up with a plan to serve a healthy, nutritious meal without the use of electricity. The cabin directors, meanwhile, moved forward with their activities, making the best of a difficult situation. Many of the campers never even knew the power was out until they discovered that the lights were off in the cafeteria at lunch time. Then, just as the campers were finishing their meal, the lights came on, and the entire group cheered.
The incident reminded us of something that happened during staff training week. We had just spent an hour praying individually over each one of our cabin directors. Then our good friend, Glenda Carpenter, said that she sensed in her spirit that the weather was going to be an issue for us this summer, but that God would see us through everything that came up. Those words have certainly been fulfilled. On top of the power outage, we’ve been rained out of activities, endured a heat wave, and coped with a torrential thunderstorm. Through all the circumstances, God has been faithful. Dozens of campers have already come to know the Lord here this summer, and we expect even more in the coming weeks. Together with the Christ, our team is working together to make the most of every opportunity.
