The Grand Finale

The final day of camp was the most free, alive, and joy-filled I have ever felt. This year we started out having the Lord’s Supper and taking communion with the kids after Greer reads “The Father’s Love Letter” (http://www.fathersloveletter.com/text.html) – a conglomeration of Scriptures strung together that tell how much our Father loves us. Many kids and adults are brought to tears of joy as we meditate on Christ’s love for us. I wept the first time I heard it. Communion must be prefaced heavily because of the prevalence of witchcraft. As forms of witchcraft, witchdoctors will have kids each human flesh and drink human blood so the evil spirits and demons can have access to the blood stream. (See last year’s Tuesday July 8 entry on witchcraft and blood for more information on this.) So we tell them over and over that the bread is just bread symbolizing Christ’s body and the grape juice is just grape juice symbolizing Christ’s blood shed for us.

After lunch the kids get their gifts of love from God which this year included a bracelet, a John 3:16 postcard, an EvangeCube, a Bible, and a backpack. The kids rejoice over every single gift, even something as small as a bracelet! You can see the transformation of Michael below and check out last year’s celebration over their fleece jackets!

The grand finale for the kids this year was a dance party outside with the Camp Life music playing throughout the dusty field. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world than on that dusty field with those kids at that moment. Smiles, laughter, freedom, and joy are on everyone’s faces. You think, “This is what heaven will be like, the most joyful celebration known to man.” But because we’re on earth the party has to stop. I can’t wait for heaven where the party never ends!

The grand finale for the Americans leaving that week is to sit on the ground and be encircled by angels (Zambians and staying Americans) praising God for the week, for each of the Americans that embodied Christ’s love for the Zambia children, and for his love for each one of us. They lay hands on us and pray for our journeys home and our ministry in the US. I’ve been to what I would consider the most beautiful place on earth at Milford Sound in New Zealand, but the love that is felt among the Americans, Zambians, and our Lord and Savior on that dusty field in Zambia is the most beautiful feeling in the world. That love and its impact on everyone there is what keeps me coming back and I pray you will join us next year for Camp Life 2010!