West Cocoa Chat

We’re home. We left Camp Ithiel yesterday at 6:30pm. In reference to a Greg’s question yesterday, we left on Thursday for 2 reasons. One, a wedding was coming in today and they had the Mess Hall and Chapel booked for the entire day. This would have limited us greatly. The second reason we didn’t know how Camp Ithiel was going to turn out so we decided to go with a Thursday evening departure and I must say I liked it.

Don’t get me wrong – our Camp Ithiel experience was nothing short of spectacular and we do plan to return their next year. It was nice cleaning up in the afternoon vs. cleaning up on Saturday morning following a Friday evening of being up through Saturday morning. We might go for a Friday evening departure next year.

I cannot say enough about the Camp’s Director (Mike) and his staff. They went out of their way, above and beyond the call of duty to make us feel welcome and to meet our needs. The meals they served us were outstanding and filling which is important to teens, especially teen boys. Mike’s demeanor all week was one of smiles and kind words. Yesterday as we left he told me that he was going to miss us. I tell you family, having someone tell you they’re going to miss you is a “180” from having someone tell you “you’re un-invited.” I thank God those days are over and we are excited and pumped up about next year’s camp.

The two camper comments I’ll share with you come from my son and his good friend Zack. I asked Zack yesterday about his “camp experience.” He told me, “Mr. Cecil, this was the most spiritual camp we’ve had in my opinion. It has motivated me to be more spiritual.”

The second comment came from my son Steven, as we enjoyed a kayak ride together. I asked Steven the same question and he told me, “Dad, this Camp has motivated me to walk closer to Jesus. Zack and I have been staying up till 2:30, 3am talking about our walks and staying close to God.” I can tell you that this Dad/Camp Coordinator/rear paddler was glad Steven was up front because my eyes welled up with tears when he made his statement.

You never know how a camp is going to turn out but you pray and plan that it will draw your campers closer to God. In spite of ourselves I believe God used us to make that happen this week and I can’t say enough Pat Pugh.
As I said in an earlier post, I believed a year ago that God will use Pat in a powerful way to help our teens deal with the world's pull on them. Pat encouraged and challenged them to stay close to God. His simple but powerful admonition to them was to answer “Jesus” when someone asked them to smoke pot, drink alcohol, have sex, or anything that was against God’s Word. It was interesting to hear campers say “Jesus” when someone was stepping out of line. For those of us in Christ the name of Jesus puts everything into perspective when we face situations that want to draw us away from God.

O.K., are you ready for the bottom-line? A number of us went to a neat restaurant last night in beautiful Gotha, (pronounced “go –tha”) Florida called “Yellow Dog Eats Here.” As we celebrated our week of Camp I recounted the events of being “un-invited” by our old camp and then finding Camp Ithiel. My lovely wife looked at me and said, “I’m glad we found this camp because you were “mope-ing” around until we did.”

Her comment got a laugh but it was true. When I was at the Pepperdine Lectures I was resigned that Bible Camp, something that was so much a part of me had been taken away by the legalistic terrorists that now dominate the old camp. Then God made all of what I just wrote about possible and I’m convinced it wasn’t for my benefit (or my wife’s because I was moody) but rather for the benefit of the 90 young souls that we were Jesus to this past week.

I want to give a final thanks to my good friend Steve Puckett. Steve is a rock of faith and a good friend. If it hadn’t been for Steve, his youth minister Joe, and the Melbourne Church of Christ Elders who were bound and determine to make Camp happen I might still be mope-ing right now.

I also want to thank my fellow elders who agreed and supported our vision of Camp this year. They have stuck beside me and their support has value that goes beyond any earthly worth.

Thanks be to God for He alone is worthy to be praised! Have a good weekend family.