When I was a new counselor, I thought I would never want to do a week of Special Persons Camp – camp for adults with special needs. The very thought of it scared me. I thought I wouldn’t have the patience to work with so many challenges all at once. I had made it clear to the camp’s leadership how unwilling I was. The first week of Special Persons Camp I got my assignment: Special Persons Camp! I wasn’t upset so much as hurt and worried. The Program Director came up to me and said, “Shawn, try it once.”
The challenges I faced that week were bigger than I had imagined. There was a camper who wouldn’t tolerate loud noise, another who screamed constantly, a camper who was non-verbal and drooled a lot, and many more. The one challenge I remember, above all others, was having to shave a camper.
I had applied the shaving creme, and the camper stood before me. I had the razor in my hand, and I suddenly realized I just couldn’t do it. After what seemed like an eternity of looking at the lather on his face, I turned to a more experienced counselor and said, in what turned out to be a desperate and pitiful tone, “I can’t do this.”
That counselor could have done several things. He could have told me to go do it myself. He could have pushed me aside and taken charge. He could have called for a director to help me deal with my problem. Instead, he showed me how to minister to this camper’s need. He discipled me in the ministry of shaving. He did so with just three words, “Alright. Come here.”
I did Special Persons Camp often after that first week. It turned out I really enjoyed the ministry to special needs adults. And the next year I heard from behind me a desperate, pitiful plea, “I can’t do this.” I turned to see the same camper with a good lather on his face and a young counselor holding out a razor. It was my turn to disciple this young man in the ministry of shaving. “Alright. Come here.”
As Wanake heads into the summer ministry, we invite you to make a generous gift to Camp Wanake. Your gift supports the ongoing work of building a
Christian community where campers and staff like Shawn experience Jesus’ love and transforming power. Thank you for your generosity, sustaining and strengthening this ministry we share.
