Eeyore
Some campers are easy
to love, some you know that God sent to you to aid in your sanctification. ‘Roo’ was definitely
one of the latter. Before the end of the
first night it was clear that he needed full-time supervision. It wasn’t that he was a bad kid, per se, he
was just very high-energy and high-maintenance.
Roo had been diagnosed with high-functioning autism and, being the
bright child that he is, had figured out that he could use that diagnosis as an
excuse for almost any behaviour. Before
we could even get to staff meeting Monday morning to discuss how to best care
for him; he had to be rescued from at least one sticky situation. At one point Roo had caught a frog and
decided that it was safest in his back pocket.
The other campers knew that it wasn’t and started chasing, screaming
after him. By the time ‘Rabbit’ could
get there, he was 20 feet up a tree with a crowd of distraught children at the
base!
So ‘Operation 100 Acre
Woods’ was put into play. Roo bonded
right away with one particular staff member: Kanga. Kanga is one of the sweetest, most loving
girls I’ve ever met, and her energy matched Roo’s step for step. By the end of the week, with several
different staff members pitching in to help, we had assembled nearly the entire
cast of Winnie the Pooh in code names. Jordan
We could have told his
parents we couldn’t handle him. We could
have sent him home Sunday night – but thank the Lord we didn’t! Thursday afternoon he went up to his team
leader during verse time and told her that he wanted to learn the verse
today! Six verses – word perfect –
later, he was begging to know more. Roo
sat with Marie for almost half an hour, with a totally clear and cohesive mind
as she answered his questions about God and the Bible.
It’s often tempting to
think “O, he can’t really understand the gospel anyways.” and to give your
efforts to campers who are easier to work with.
The truth is though, that these things are spiritually discerned – and
anyone can understand them. I don’t know
if Roo got saved or not, I hope he did, but I do know that God opened his heart
to want to know and his mind to understand.
Kanga
We gave what we
could…and the rest is up to God!! (O glorious thought!)
(Article by Laurel)
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