Camp Barnabas!

This week has been a pretty slow week of work. We only had shows on Monday and Wednesday. Because of that, Dorina and I have several days off. It's kinda nice, but again , I like being busy so I was unsure what I was going to do with my time (and still am for the rest of the week). We left Arkansas yesterday after our show and decided to stay in Springfield, MO until Monday morning. As I was sitting in my hotel room last night, I realized that Camp Barnabas was only 45 minutes away from where I was at.

Camp Barnabas is a camp for mentally and physically disabled children. This camp allows the campers to be exactly what they are supposed to be: kids! It doesn't matter if they had no arms or legs, or are paralyzed, they still got to go on the ropes course or go swimming. It may have taken a little more time and more help, but it's worth it! Every week of the summer hosts a different group of people, normally based on disability, and it also has weeks that cater to the siblings. You can find out more about Camp Barnabas at http://www.campbarnabas.org/.

 In 2004 I went to this camp with my church and helped for one of the weeks. I was assigned to one camper and it was my responsibility to take care of her, help her with her everyday needs, and to live with her for the duration of my time there. It was amazing, hard, exhausting, exhilarating, you name it. I still remember my camper and crazy enough, 5 years after counseling I ended up going to school with her sister for a semester and I got to see my camper that following May (remember Barclay was like 100 people, this was a crazy God thing!).

I contemplated for a while whether or not it would be worth it to drive out to the camp today.  I hadn't been there in a long time, there was not going to be anyone I knew, a lot has changed... Well I decided to go because if anything it would give me something to do with my day! I am so glad that I decided to go. When I got there I was able to talk with one of the directors about the camp, what's changed, how I got connected, all that good stuff. She told me that I could feel free to walk around and just make myself at home.   I knew it would be fun to see but I did not expect it to be so good! Even with the things that were new, as I walked around there were a couple places that I went to that reminded me of some very specific times. As I was talking with two of the ladies I told them that my heart just felt so full and tears came to my eyes. Camp Barnabas is such an amazing ministry!   It was actually an emotional experience!

One of the people I came in contact with asked me why it has taken me so long to come back! They started telling me that I should pray about coming back sometime, meaning this summer. I don't know if that will ever happen, but God definitely reminded me of a lot of things and the preciousness of these campers who desire to be loved for who they are. I want to help encourage and love them!

Here is a picture of one of the places at Camp Barnabas. It's called Inspiration Point. This cross has little plaques on it of campers who have passed away. It is such a beautiful spot. The next picture is of the land to the right of the cross. It is so beautiful and peaceful!

Not that I needed a reminder, but simply walking around this camp reminded me of how much my heart is for camp! I love camp! It was such  good time of reflection! God is still working on  my heart even after these last 6 years! Just like so many other things, it's so hard to put into words how amazing Camp Barnabas is as a counselor as well as the opportunity to go back and visit.