This past summer was my third on Camp Bighorn summer staff, but I have by no means learned it all. God is constantly teaching me new things and showing me new aspects of Himself. Whenever I think that I “got it all down,” He reveals to me more about His character and about how much He loves me.
The number one thing that I appreciate about Bighorn is the people there. I love the community at Bighorn. I realize that the word community is thrown around a lot these days, especially in camp atmospheres, so a better way to put it might be that I admire how much everyone cares for each other at camp. Sometimes loving people means saying hard things to one another but ultimately with each other’s best interests in mind. I also appreciate how age does not matter. You can be influential and impact people if you are two years old or ninety two.
This is my story on how a very young person showed me a very valuable lesson. I was TACing (Technical Adventure Coordinator) a swim time at “The Mouth,” which is an inlet of the Clark Fork River, where the river forms a kind of bay. We take people there to swim occasionally, and it was a fairly relaxed event. The exciting part about it was a tall rock that was adjacent to the river, where you can climb up and jump into the water. There was a mother there with two little boys, and she was pregnant with twins. The older of her boys wanted to try cliff jumping, but he was only three years old. He really wanted to go but his mom could not go with him because of her pregnancy. So I volunteered to go up with him. We hiked up to the smaller of the three jumps, and walked to the edge of the cliff. We stood there a while, while he nervously looked over the edge to see just how high he was above the water. After a few minutes of standing there in silence, I thought it was over and we would have to walk back down on the trail. That is when he looked up at me and said, “I can’t do this. Will you jump with me?” So I picked him up and as I held him in my arms, we counted down from ten and jumped together. Afterwards he had such a big grin on his face, it was precious; and I was so delighted that I could share in this blissful moment with him.
At the same time that I was so full of joy, I was also very thought provoked. What astounded me was that if this little boy could come to the conclusion that he could not do this by himself and he needed help, why could I not come to this realization sooner in my life. If only I were more like this little boy, I could be humble enough to tell those around me that I can not do this on my own, that I need help, and trusting that they will not let me down.
A couple weeks later I had a choice laid before me in my own life, just like this boy did. I was having a miserable day, a lot was going on, and I was processing a great deal. I desperately needed someone to talk to. But I did not want to be transparent with them, as it made me feel vulnerable. So there I was on that cliff, wanting to jump, but so scared. There was a moment when I almost walked back down the path, but then I thought of this story and it gave me courage to give it a shot. I went and poured out my heart to a friend of mine, and told them what I was going through and that I could not do this by myself anymore. I felt a burden lift off of me, and I felt relieved that I was not alone anymore. I never was truly alone, but I felt so much more loved and understood after that.
So to summarize my story, God gave me a precursor to what was to come to give me courage and to get me ready to surrender it all to Him. I am so glad that He did! May we all have the courage to ask for help, and trust others with our true selves!
I hope you all have a wonderful fall!
~DeLancey Grace
