It is Finished

It is finished.

I am not trying to make a Jesus reference here but camp is finished.  After 126 hours with and preparing for the kids, I am back home (which it is weird to answer with the fact that I am from Henderson and not Gretna…I AM AN ADULT).

I got both my boys back that I have had the last two years.  E (I cannot use their real names because of confidentiality) was pretty much the same but J got some meds switched or something and decided to revert back to his behavior from two years ago which means lots of running and punching.  The theme for the camp was Royal Olympics so we had muscle day, sports hero day, and lots of Olympic themed activities.

Oh, for those that do not know what Royal Family Kid’s Camp is it is a camp for children between the ages of 5 and 11 that have been physically and/or sexually abused.  The goal is to pour as much love and life into these kids as possible.  We want to show them how to play, how to be loved, and how to heal and make up for the years lost to abuse.

So camp is a fantastic event.  Beyond the opportunity to pour love into kids that desperately need it, during lots of crazy things: go-karts with attached water cannons, chasing pigs, water fights, swimming, giant slip and slides, water bottle rockets, fishing, archery, obstacle courses, dressing like muscle men, superheroes, gentlemen, hippies, and sports heroes, eating every hour and a half (not a joke), piñatas, etc., and the constant movement and singing, camp is a paradise.  It is about 100 adults living together selflessly without regard to self-promotion and with 100% dedication and submission to God’s Will.  For a week, there is no politics or bills or wars, there is only God, Satan, the kids, and you.  It is difficult to put the entire week into writing but here are some samples.

Scene: Little boy fishing on the edge of a pond catches a fish and his counselor is trying to get it off the hook.  Boy – Hey, it’s a female!  Me-How do you know it is a female? Boy – I can see its uterus.  And look…there is its pee-hole.

Scene: My boy, who has a bad habit of pinching, punching, or grabbing anything that he walks by, sees the last water balloon of the water balloon fight in the arms of an elderly gentlemen talking to his Parents-in-law.  Problem: Boy grabs water balloon…water balloon pops, drenching the man…the man happens to be the husband to the director of the camp.  The boy laughed about what he did until I revealed the man’s identity.  The boy knew the fear of God that day.

Scene:  Young boy, about 6, has been so badly sexually abused that he cannot control his bowel movements (This is one of several at the camp) is having a long day having pooped his pants four times.  Clean up and time spent walking back and forth kept him out of most of the activities but they got back in time to chase pigs.  He was too scared to get them himself (they were bigger than himself) so he comforted the piglet as I carried it to the bucket.  He excitedly runs out of the pen to counselor and says, “I had so much fun because I wasn’t pooping!”

Scene:  Young autistic boy smells bad after playing with pigs and counselor is trying to get him take a shower and makes the mistake of telling the newly adopted boy, “You smell so bad that your parents might kick you out of the house.”  Boy – (panicked) Do you think that they would do that? Counselor – (recovering) No, no they would never do that, I was just joking.  Boy- Would they really do that?  Counselor- No, they love and would never do that (still trying to get his foot out of his mouth).  Boy – Well, if they did, would you take me in?

I have many more funny, sweet, and sad stories from camp but an outsider cannot understand them.  This week of camp is the definition of “Standing in the Gap”.  These kids have been claimed by Satan and he does not easily let go.  Our job is to take back that ground and to do that we must stand in the gap between the Devil and these kids.  The funny thing about gaps is that they are the only opening and everything, if it wants to get through, must go through the gap.  So…if Satan wants to get to E and J, he must go through the gap, me and God.  It is a difficult week.  Camp was almost cancelled because of a broken well; an already short staff was whittled away by sickness and injury, kids cancelled attendance, and on and on.  Standing in the Gap is not easy but it is necessary.

YOU need to come to camp.  I do not care who you are, what you do, or if you like kids.  YOU HAVE to come to camp.  If you want to physically the healing power of God’s love, come to camp.  If you want know what unconditional love is like, come to camp.  If you want punch the Devil in the face, come to camp.  If you want to have the most fun you have ever experienced, come to camp.  If you want to be broken so that all selfishness and pride are stripped so that all is left is the will and strength of God, come to camp. 

Stand in the Gap.

If you would like more information about being involved with Royal Family Kids Camp in donations (monetary or supplies or time) or as a staff, please contact me.