Camp Life 2017 is quickly approaching!  The theme this year is Abba Father and how we are all children of God.

Anticipation

The final days before we leave are always days of anticipation and excitement as we begin our final preparations for departure.  We are so blessed to be able to go and teach the truth of the gospel to kids that have been kicked to the sidelines and left to fend for themselves.

This year is especially exciting to me as a father to be able to deliver the message that they indeed have a father that loves them regardless of what has happened with their earthly parents.

Over the past four years we have gotten the opportunity to share the gospel messages of faith to move mountains, amazing grace, hope and now God as father.  All powerful messages in a country that is in such poor shape financially, devoid of hope for much of the older generation, grace is hard to see and in the case of these orphans a father is non-existent.

Abba Father

The picture of fatherhood the majority of these kids see is not one of love and protection.  Rather they see fathers of abuse, neglect, rape, violence and abandonment to die or find a way to survive.  Continuing a cycle of poverty and strife that I find hard to comprehend.

The message of father this year, that of a father that claims us and them as his children, loves us and wants the best for us, protects us and rejoices in our success is one that I believe will be life changing to many of my boys in particular.  The message of unconditional love and loyalty that we can’t even comprehend is one that I cannot wait to deliver.

Our Kids at Camp LIFE

We have children that have been put out to live in the streets by their fathers.

We have girls that have been defiled by their fathers.

We have girls that have disappeared, either dead or sold, by their fathers

We have boys that are beaten regularly by their fathers.

We have children that have seen their mothers or siblings die at the hands of their fathers.

We have kids that have drunks for fathers.  Fathers with no hope of a future so they bury themselves in alcoh9ol.

Hardly a role model that builds trust or encourages these kids to strive for a better life, a different situation than the past or present and certainly not an environment that would foster love and advancement.

But for a week while we are there and each of the 7 weeks that Camp LIFE is conducted they all get to see that there is more than what they are surrounded by today.  There is a chance for an education, a glimpse of how they should be loved and a message of how they really ARE loved eternally and beyond measure.

The Countdown is On

June 15th, 2017 is the date we start the journey to Zambia.  Waiting for us there are 42 kids that we have come to call our own, those kids we first met in 2014 that were on their own that are now being fed and getting an education in the Matero Legacy Academy in Lusaka.  Thanks to the generous contributions of the child sponsors that make that happen and to those that support us to be able to return for multiple years.

God willing the provision for us to go will continue to be available to us, we can only pray that it is because we truly feel in the center of God’s presence in that place on top of a mountain outside Lusaka, Zambia.

Camp Life 2017 we are anxiously awaiting your arrival and look forward to the stories that will come back with us from the experience.

1 John 3:1 NIV

1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

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