Grace with Attitude

It’s been a year since I wrote about the adventures of our family at Camp Attitude. This year we took the plunge and took the entire first week of camp to attend. We spent the year planning the logistics on our side while allowing Holy Spirit to preparing our hearts for the journey.

For those you who aren’t familiar with Camp Attitude it is a week-long camp designed to cater to the needs of families with children who have special needs. I’ve written about a few of the experiences our family has endured in this area in my book Your Life is a Freaking Mess. Finding a facility who’s mission is solely designed for special needs people is very rare particularly when the cost to the attendees is free while the entire volunteer staff pays to help.

Jesus said, “…as you’ve done to the least of these you have done also to me.” Society views special needs people, children and adults, as less than the least. Social functions rather than being inclusive are exclusives; education rather than being all encompassing is circumvented to core skills training; even the very manner we herd these special people to the farthest corner of the auditorium while the preacher regales us about how God loves all the little people of the world is indicative of our shallow feelings towards all those not “like” us.

At Camp Attitude inclusiveness in the true normal. Parents welcome other parents who deal with issues similar to their own and experience the comradeship in a life journey few travel. Campers, the invited children, of all ages welcome old friends from past years. These friends encompass the volunteer staff who may have been their buddy, or the cooking staff dedicated to delivering three outstanding meals and snacks each day, or the grounds crew who keeps the facility running smoothly. Each friend contributes their “Christocentric” nature which permeates the entire facility.

Everyday at camp is a celebration of firsts for each camper present. It might be the first time they’ve eaten within a large group of people where their shrill of excitement wasn’t stifled and disdained by those around them. It might be the first time that the camper has had someone spend an entire day with them doing whatever they wanted to do, not what they were told to do. It might be the first time that they’ve ever been in a large body of water with others who are just like them. It might be the first time that dancing with someone wasn’t the means of keeping them away from something more than allowing them to express who they are. Lastly, for those returning it might just be the first time since last year that they have been shown appreciation for being themselves.

Far too many Christians talk about doing the greater works of Christ without really knowing what those works entail. Sure, there is the allure of the ministry of healing, signs and wonders. But when the reality of a life of a special needs person crosses that path of ministry and these people leave no different then how they came, this is where the greater work of Christ truly begins. This is where the camp excels.

At Camp Attitude there are no prayer lines or fire tunnels, no healing evangelists, no anointing oil ceremonies. There is simply the laying on of hands. Hands of love helping a camper into their chair; hands dedicated to embracing a friend when they’ve accomplished a task; hands willing to push a swing for hours if that is what the camper wants; hands that rejoice, hands that support, hands that caress, and hands that appreciate the dirty work of caring when all others have lost the incentive to care.

Jesus said that people shall know that we are his disciples because we love one another. Camp Attitude demonstrates this point day in and day out and it is impacting lives in the process. People who come onto the facility are transformed by the love demonstrated to them as well as to the campers and their families. Skeptics at the beginning of the week are impassioned promoters at the end not because of some hyped up sales pitch but simply by the joy of seeing the genuine loving support of other people.

Camp Attitude is a shining example of those who live by the Grace Rule: Give abundantly unto others what they have no way of doing for themselves. I would urge all of you to support their work in some manner. I say this simply because I know what an impact they have had on the life of my daughter this past week. However, I also know of the impact that it has created in the lives of multiple families who had lost hope and now are renewed.

If you or organization is interested in knowing more about Camp Attitude, becoming a volunteer or a buddy, you can find them at http://www.campattitude.com for more information.