CentriKid Camp
While you are reading this I am at Brewton-Parker College in Mt. Vernon, Georgia for “Centri-Kid.” This is a camp for children from second to sixth grade. This is my second year to attend. We have eight children from our church here this week.
I will tell you this. The bed in the dormitory is not a Sleep Number Bed. I have to share a bathroom with 40-50 other people. Were it not for breakfast and the salad bar at lunch and dinner I would be hungry. And the noise of some 500 elementary aged children, combined with the heat and humidity of July in South Georgia are enough to drive a sane man crazy. And there are those who would say that I wasn’t a sane man when I left home.
Still, I’m here, and I’m glad I’m here. It really is a fascinating experience. Every day the children attend worship services, one in the morning and one in the evening. They do recreation and have “tracks” that they attend. The tracks are activities they have chosen, something that interests them, and they attend each day for an hour (things like baseball, archery, and one that captures my attention called, “No Boys Allowed”).
Track time is one of my favorite times. That’s when I go back to an empty dorm and relax. I wash clothes, read, do sermon preparation for Sunday, and maybe take a nap. But I also take a few minutes to pray for the children from our church, as well as those from all over the southeastern United States who have come for this week.
The fact is, we have no idea as to the background for all of these kids. Some come from healthy homes. Some, not so much. We have a week to pour into their lives the things of God. And we pray that these things might overpower the other things that they face every day. Will you join me in praying for these ? You don’t have to know their names. God knows.
It is truly amazing what God can do in the life of a child during a week like this. It’s not even a full week. We arrived late Sunday afternoon, and we will be home by noon on Thursday. And yet God is honored, and lives are impacted for this world and eternity. What a great God He is. I pray that you know Him as your own.
