Sunday, July 01, 2007

Satan Is Keeping My Kids Out Of Summer Camp

Mark's gone to summer camp at Fair Haven the last two years. He's had a blast, and of course he wants to go again. This year, Kira is old enough to go, too. So a couple of weeks ago, I filled out the registration forms, signed a couple of checks for the deposit, and sent it out in the mail. I wanted them to go the week of July 8 (originally there was a dentist appointment the week of the 15th, but now it's rescheduled, so they *could* actually go that week if need be). Anyway, I've been waiting for confirmation that they're booked for the week.

And waiting.

Well, it's less than a week left now, and I've gotten a little panicky that I haven't heard. So I called the camp, and got someone in the office, who looked it up and said that she didn't see the kids in the computer, but that the registration person was out right now and she would have her call me back. That was over two hours ago. I don't wait well. I'm considering calling back.

In the meantime, I'm getting a little grumpy about the "lost" registration. This will actually be the third year running that there has been an "issue" with the camp. The first year, I sent the entire amount of money at the time I sent in the registration. The church then awarded Mark a scholarship, which was sent directly to the camp. It took an entire year to track down that overpayment. So last year, when I sent in the registration, I wrote a note of explanation and just shorted the deposit by the amount that was overpaid the year before. And now this year, the kids' registrations have apparently not arrived at the camp at all.

I *did* enclose a note with it, asking that both kids be scheduled together, and listing my preferences for which weeks, in case the first choice was not available. Maybe it's just a matter of the registration person setting aside the package to deal with later and misplacing it. Maybe.

OR. For some reason, the Dana Carvey skit "The Church Lady" keeps popping in my head..."Could it be....could it be...SATAN?!?!" Depending on your religion, the idea of Satan interfering with a Christian camp registration is very real. In some religions, Satan's got his hand in just about everything, trying to trip you up on your path to God. There *are* no coincidences, no mistakes, no bad or good luck; it's all a battle for your soul.

OR, it could be God using this incident to stretch me out of my comfort level. I want very badly for my kids to go to camp; I have not received confirmation; therefore, I must use the telephone to straighten it out. I must initiate contact with someone (which I hate) and work out a conflict (which I really hate). I can't bury myself in my house and keep under the radar.

However, I really can't see the logic of either of these. I can't see where Satan can really be bothered to mess with the mail. And I can't see God doing it, either. Really, don't both of them have, um, more important things to do?

I'm curious what other people think. Do you think God and/or Satan are really that intricately involved in your day-to-day existence? Do you see messages in the mess-ups in life?

And for those who believe in signs, how on earth do you know how to read them? I mean, do you look at this as Satan trying to interfere with bringing my children closer to God? Or do you look at it as God trying to say that this isn't the path he wants me to take? Maybe He wants Mark to attend BYC (which he had the opportunity to do, except that it conflicted with Fair Haven)? Maybe He doesn't want them to go to camp at all? Maybe I'm supposed to keep them with me for some reason yet to be seen?

Well, it remains to be seen how this will all turn out. I'll keep ya posted. mk
**************
Got hold of someone...turns out, kids won't be going to camp this year. They couldn't get enough staffing to open both sides of the lake, so they're having only half as many kids, all on one side, and they were all booked up for our available weeks. They had been holding off to see if they could work it out somehow. Bummer. Mark doesn't want to do BYC either, so we'll just give Fair Haven a go next year. mk

1 comment:

Amy said...

I grew up in a very religious family, and I'm very familiar with the whole "Satan is messing wit you"/"God is testing you" mindset!

I'm still a religious person, but have tempered my beliefs somewhat. Not everything is a "sign" - that's for superstitious people. Sometimes, some things just happen. Everything in life stretches, challenges, or grows you, I suppose, but isn't that just a natural part of the process of growing up? While I believe that God is interested and involved in our daily lives, I also think that some processes are just part of the system God put in place in the beginning. As in, He doesn't have the reinvent the wheel with every person - everyone is designed to grow and mature over time. (And if they don't, there's really something wrong with them!)

And I think Satan is a little more insidious. Not going to Bible camp isn't going to keep your son from having a close relationship with Christ. But the little daily things, like friends, TV, video games, music, etc. - can. A strong relationship isn't forged once a year for one week at camp - it's a lifelong process, and the way he's raised will have a lot more to do with it than camp. I remember very clearly a boy from camp who was "on fire for God" who, once he entered college, fell away. He wasn't raised by Christian parents.

So, I'd chalk it up to just one of those things!