A Light in the Darkness

Two summers ago I attended a Baptist Church Camp in Glorietta, New Mexico. The entire first two days we were there, we had consistant let downs. These disappointments quickly began to ruin our week: the food was terrible, they were understaffed, it was constantly raining, and the bugs were taking over our long term field trip.

When we went to Worship that night, we were all tired from the impossible things they tried to make us do in a recess type session that day. We had to accomplish "missions," such as getting from one side of a rope to the other, carrying different people. Another goal was to name as many Bible verses as we could, minimum of 30. I never realized how little I knew. We couldn't go on to the next task until we completed the present one as a team. What should have been a Rec Time of 45 minutes, tops, turned into Hell for 3 and 1/2 long hours. By the time we entered the Chapel to sing and pray and listen to an hour long sermon, all we wanted was to sit down somewhere. Everyone was dozing off and the staff could tell that something needed to be done.

Then out of nowhere, the lights and electricity went off. All we could hear was the pitter patter of the rain. We all sat there, wondering if the staff had done it just for effect. But when we saw them frantically running around, finding random flashlights, we knew this was real. This was God's intervention for us.

For 3 hours (an hour and a half after we were supposed to be in bed) we all sat in the dark, singing songs from our minds and souls and not from a screen. For 3 hours we closed our eyes and prayed to God to help us change ourselves, to believe in miracles and second chances. Then, the camp leader ended our session in prayer and thanked God for the near intervention we all witnessed that night. As soon as he said Amen, the lights came on.

But every counselor,pastor, and camp staff member was at the front.