Summer Camp

This week Michael is attending Junior high camp with his church youth group.  That sentence is loaded with meaning for this family.

It was after he arrived home from camp last year that it became obvious that there was a physical problem with Michael.  In the days prior to camp, he'd had a low fever that kept him home from a few activities.  The fever disappeared, though, so we packed him up and sent him off to camp.  He had a great time, but it ended up being a long week for him.  In addition to some bizarre injuries, like the bunk above him collapsing, he reported that he had been a bit tired all week.  When he got home, he napped.  And napped.  And napped.  The next two days, he just wasn't himself--tired, pale, disinterested in normal activity.  That's when I took him in to see the pediatrician to determine what might be wrong.  You know the story from that point . . .

Now, almost a year later, he is back at camp.  To think that in that year he has battled a rare form of leukemia, undergone chemotherapy and radiation, gone into remission, received a successful bone marrow transplant from his brother, and has now regained the health and strength necessary for his doctors to grant him permission to attend a crazy week of Junior high camp reminds us of the perfect plan of a loving, sovereign God to Whom this family owes an immeasurable debt of gratitude.

I pray Michael enjoys every second of the great chapel challenges, the smelly camp water, the endless soda and snacking, the mud pit, the swimming, basketball, climbing wall, hiking, golfing, paint ball, horses, etc. On Saturday, I plan to celebrate each silly story and that duffel bag full of soggy, grass-stained clothing.