Summer camps responsibilities were
sure to come. I was the only paid youth guy in our district. The camp had been
run for years by a pastor from Flin Flon, Manitoba. There was nothing central
about Flin Flon. I was surprised that they even came as far west to camp at
Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. That was nearly a whole providence away. I did not
give the camp a lot of thought. I was scheduled to be the assistant director
and learn the camp pattern so I could take over the following year.
I didn’t really know that much
about camps. I went to one as a kid and hated the whole experience. To this day
I wonder why I went. I didn’t really have a friend that I went with. I was put
in a cabin with boys I knew from church, but I wasn’t buddies with any of them
and didn’t care much for any of them. There were two “camp meetings” a day and
they were longer than church and even more boring, if that was possible. I
remember feeling harangued to become a Christian and/or be filled with the Holy
Spirit. All that made me want to do was go home. This is before the days I decided
to just fake speaking in tongues and get it over with.
I had attended a Youth For Christ
retreat as a teen that was pretty fun, but I mostly remember helping to lift a
VW bug between two trees and sleeping in a cabin when I felt like I was about
to freeze to death. The third was a national Youth For Christ Gathering at
Winona Lake, Indiana. It was neat, but nothing like summer camp.
All I can say is — I knew nothing.
Five days before camp, I got a
phone call from the pastor in Flin Flon and his father had passed away and not
only would he go to the funeral, he would be there for several days cleaning up
his affairs. At a time like that it is pretty rude to say, “Don’t go. I need
you here.” I gulped deeply and screamed silently.
Della was already planning to come
as a girl’s counselor. She seemed to know more about standard camp programs
that I did so we sat down to try and figure this out. The full camp program and
all the details were being put in the mail. If all went well, I would have that
info in two days and three to go. I didn’t even know who the camp staff was.
Did we have everyone we needed? I hoped so.
I had the Christian Service
Brigade games book and put it to good use. We picked ones that both sexes might
enjoy and hopefully were somewhat unusual. The previous director may have had a
great program, but I have always had the need to be over prepared. If I didn’t
know all his activities, or if I would like them or want to do them, what then?
I needed a backup.
I think we headed to Jeannette
Lake, Saskatchewan on a Monday morning for a five-day camp. We had our car
loaded with half the camp food and some equipment and there were several others
from our church and the area in a caravan with kids and their things. The
flatness of Saskatchewan does not change at one goes north, but trees begin to
appear. After we left Meadow Lake the sky began to turn grey. At first we
didn’t know if it might be rain that was coming. It didn’t exactly look like
clouds. The closer we go to camp the more convinced we were driving into a bug
infestation.
As soon as I pulled into the camp
someone approached our car and asked if I was Clyde and said, “Harrison Weaver
wants to see you immediately.” When Della and I got to the dining hall all the
available staff was gathering. Harrison was the pastor at Meadow Lake. I really
only knew him by reputation. He was famous for having burned his church to the
ground. He had been working with a torch trying to repair some pipes near the
corner of the building when the flame jumped to the building and went up like a
tinderbox. He was a large barrel chest 50+ year old with graying hair a booming
voice and a tremendous faith in God. Harrison took over the meeting and told us
all what to do.
“God cannot work at this camp with
all these mosquito’s. They have got to leave.” I fully agreed with him. I
already knew they loved me. I had been bitten several times from the car to the
dining hall. “I want us to pray and ask God to removed these bugs from the
camp.” That sounded great to me, but I had never in my life asked God for
anything like that. I was willing to pray, but wondered what good it would do.
Was God even willing to change the natural forces at work?
Harrison wanted everyone to pray
out loud and pray believing. Out loud I could do. Believing, I wasn’t so sure
about, but I wanted to. I knew he was right. We would complain all week long if
something didn’t change. We prayed and Harrison ended our 20 minutes together
and I could sense his faith and optimism. When he was done I had no doubt we
would walk outside and the bugs would be gone.
THEY WERE and they were gone for the entire week of camp. A few of
us were delayed getting away at the scheduled end to camp. We watched the
mosquito’s return. God had moved them somewhere else. Maybe they went on
vacation.
PS: The photos ore current ones from Jeannette Lake. It is now a major summer camp location.
NEXT: A different Jeanette Lake story
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