I recently attended Royal Family Kids Camp, a camp for abused, abandoned and neglected children where I’ve served as a volunteer since 1999. I served in a role where I help kids who are struggling behaviorally to enjoy their week at camp.
The week ended with our Director, Darren Edwards, reporting that this was a week of “plan B”. We had to come up with alternatives to our original plans. To name just a few changes, there were adults who serve in important roles who got sick during the week and there were people stepping up to serve many roles instead of just the job they were assigned to. Also, the water was cut off for two hours one morning as the kids were arriving for an indoor activity of kids club. What do you think happens when you tell adults and kids they can’t go to the bathroom? All of a sudden, people need to go.
In addition, a big wind and rain storm came one afternoon and cut off power during chapel time. Can you imagine what it would be like to have 132 kids and over 100 adults in a dark room while it’s storming outside and maintain a sense of self- control? The activities were conducted with a flashlight for about 35 minutes. Then, because of the big storm, the outdoor activities after dinner had to be altered. The kids had looked forward to this time of jumping houses and the rock climbing wall. Activities were changed to indoors and outdoor activities were postponed to the next day.
The camp motto is “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.” There were many opportunities to be stretched that week. It’s a life lesson for all of us. Sometimes things happen in our control and sometimes it’s out of our control. Plans change, a loss happens, someone else’s choice deeply impacts us. How are we going to respond to it? We have choices in our response. What will you choose?
-Sandy
