In one of my previous international travels I saw several pieces of art that changed their appearance based on the position that you viewed them from. For instance, what appeared to be a statue of a car from one direction, looked like a horse and buggy from another. A related form of the same idea incorporated light so that if the shadow was viewed form a specific position, it also showed another scene. I was fascinated by how the same object, could be interpreted so many different ways based on the point of view. Perhaps camp today was something like that.
All of us started off our day the same way with breakfast and devotions. There was also a team meeting for all of the Family Bible Church members to check-in with each other and pray together. After lunch, however, views of the camp experience diverged.
Four of us worked on evaluating English Language skills of the students as they arrived. This consisted of having a friendly conversation (to the extent that we were able) and asking specific questions to gauge student competency. It was necessary work, and some of the students enjoyed it (especially the more proficient speakers), but many were pretty nervous engaging in the exercise. In the meantime, we had a clear view of the rest of the team greeting the students as they arrived – giving hugs, laughing, and engaging in what looked like a really good time.
For those on the greeting team, there were joyous conversations, but also there were awkward moments in trying to engage students who were just warming up to the reality of being at camp. There was the hard task of helping students carry their luggage to their assigned rooms, and oh yes, there was the heat. Yesterday’s rain had not returned, but the heat and the humidity were a definite challenge to those outside. Little did I realize that some of them may have been looking through the same window at us, dreaming about the air conditioned comfort that we experienced.
Perhaps the more important perspective that the scene needed to be viewed from is that of our heavenly Father. From the heavenly perspective, both of these tasks are a shadow of what He plans to accomplish this week at camp. A shadow cast by His glory. Just like the art that I viewed so long ago, it is almost impossible to grasp the height, width, depth and shape of God’s love for these students based on the mundane activities of getting settled into camp. We hope though that even from these little things the students can grasp a small taste of our savior’s love.