S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r   1 9 9 8   I s s u e

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Portraits of Parkside

By Rachel Fleming

I have come to the conclusion, that God's ways are far above our ways, and that He enjoys showing His power by arranging circumstances to our utter amazement.  I am still in awe, of God's workings in my life, this past summer.

The day before I left for Quebec, Canada, I didn't know if I would be able to go.  The day before that I had no idea that there was even a possibility of me going to work at Parkside Ranch Bible Camp.

Because of my job at the bank, I had tried to be content with the fact that I would not be able to go anywhere this summer.  It seemed like all my friends were traveling around the world, serving as missionaries, and here I was, stuck in Bible Belt USA, where people seem to have lost any hunger for the Word of God.

First of all, the Lord had to help me correct my attitude, He has me here in the US for a reason, and if I am not willing to have Him use me here, then I won't be of much use to Him elsewhere.

After I came to the point of excepting that He had me in the place where He wanted me.  The Lord arranged the details so perfectly for me to be able to go and minister for Him.  If this had come up any other time than when it did, I would not have been able to get time off.  God even arranged that.  The week before the suggestion of going to Parkside came up, things had been going really slowly at work.  They really did not need me, and had to struggle to find a place to put me to get my twenty hours in.  I felt very useless, and could feel my discontent creeping up on me, I prayed that the Lord would give me a good attitude.  When the issue of Parkside came up, and I only was able to have one day's notice to give my boss, I really didn't know what she would say.  But the Lord softened her heart, and she allowed me to have the three weeks off!  On one day's notice!

Because of all that the Lord had done for me to bring me to the place I was at, I started camp with an incredible enthusiasm, unlike anything I had experienced before.  I knew that I was where the Lord wanted me, and that He had a purpose for me being there.

There was a bit of confusion as to which cabin I would be counseling, I didn't find out until the last minute whether I would be counseling 10, 11, or 13 and 14 year olds.  It turned out that I would be counseling cabin 3, a cabin of seven 13 and 14 year old girls.

I had never counseled at a camp before, but I had been a camper a few times when I was younger.  I remember that I had the privilege of having a young woman named Lorraine Darwin as my counselor; she had an incredible impact on my life.  She wasn't like any teenager that I had ever met before.  It was evident that her sole purpose in life was to serve her Savior.  I remember that I had always wanted to be a counselor, because of the impact that Lorraine had on my life.

By the end of the first day I had seven vibrant, excited and a little bit nervous girls in my cabin. And one very excited, and a little nervous counselor. :-)  Here are some of the kid's stories.
 

Elizabeth is a 14 year old girl who was in my cabin.  She had a quiet spirit, and a sweet smile.

Elizabeth was a very good girl.  She never got in trouble.  I never heard her angry or swearing, and she always listened attentively in cabin devotions.

Every night, she and the other girls in my cabin would ask if they could read their Bibles after lights out, by flashlight.  (Who could resist such a request?  And I did of course do a little "undercover" investigating, to see if they were really reading their Bibles.)

Even though Elizabeth was a very sweet, kind girl, I sensed in my spirit that she was not a Christian.  So throughout the two weeks, I prayed for her.  She never talked much in devotions, but she would always listen, and was never a distraction.  Finally near the end of the two weeks, I went on a walk with Elizabeth, to talk with her about the Lord.  I asked her the question, "If you died tonight, would you know for sure that you would go to Heaven?"  She sort of looked down at the grass, and then back up at me.  "Well, I have been thinking a lot about that," she said, "and the other night I finally decided that yes, I was going to ask Jesus into my heart.  So I did."  I cannot describe the joy I felt after she said that.

I asked her a couple of questions, and then asked her if she was going to share her testimony on testimony night, which was the next evening.  She looked at me with horror in her eyes.  "Oh, I can't do that!" she said.  "I would be so nervous, I can't talk in front of people!"  I looked at her, into her shy eyes, and told her how I too had been afraid to talk in front of people, but that the Lord always gave me boldness when He wanted me to speak for Him.  She looked unconvinced, but promised that she would think about it.

When testimony night came, there were around 40 kids who shared their testimony.  I had tears in my eyes much of the night, as I saw children that I had specifically prayed for come up and share their testimony of how they had come to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  All night long I prayed that Elizabeth would get up and share, I knew that it was something that she needed to do, to confess publicly her love for the Lord.

One by one the children got up to share, all of the kids that came up with me from our church came up and shared.  It was so encouraging to my heart to hear these seven, eight, and nine year old kids speaking forth Christ with a a boldness that I myself am still struggling to obtain.  As we neared the end of the testimony time, Melissa from my cabin got up to share.  Melissa had also received the Lord that week.  When she got up to share, the counselor sitting beside me started crying very hard, Melissa was her cousin, what an incredible joy!  But still Elizabeth did not get up, and finally Phil got up to close.

But just as he was about, he stopped for a second, and asked if their was anyone else who needed to share.  I held my breath and prayed, and then I saw Elizabeth walk up to the front.  I started crying, and so did Elizabeth.  She was crying so hard she could barely speak.  But what she said was clearly understood, she told about how she came to know Jesus, and asked us to pray for her family, who did not know Jesus.  It was such an incredible moment, one that I will treasure always.  After she got down, Phil stopped and prayed with everybody, for Elizabeth, and for her family.

Elizabeth had a sensitive heart to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  May we be as willing to go out of our personal comfort zone to testify for Christ.
 
 

Eleanor is an intelligent 14 year old girl.  She had become a Christian the year before at camp.  But she comes from a non-Christian home, and had begun to question whether or not what she had confessed to believe in was actually true. She came to camp very skeptical.  During devotions, she was always putting before me questions that were very hard to answer.  Many of them I had to postpone the answers until I had time to look them up or ask somebody who knew.

Eleanor seemed very unhappy when she came.  She rarely smiled, and would criticize me for being too happy.  She said I was too joyful.  I told her I had something to be joyful about.

Eleanor knew a lot about the Bible, but she also seemed to soak up everything else she heard about the Bible that was not true.  She had some very interesting ideas that were not Scripture based.

I was not sure how to answer all of her questions, so I took some of them to our director Phil.  He said that it might be a good idea if he base his next few messages on what we believe and why.  Why God's Word is true, and how we can be confident in our faith.  The messages were really well done, and they gave a lot of facts that supported our faith.  My faith was strengthened, and so was Eleanor's.  You could tell a complete difference in her countenance.  (See the picture of Eleanor with her arms out?  Who is too happy?!)  She knew why she believed, and that the Scriptures were indeed true.

I think a lot of us are like Eleanor, we don't really know why we believe, we just think we have to take everything by faith.  But our faith is not blind, there are many evidences, and proof that our faith is not in vain.  But most importantly we know Jesus.  "You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart.  I know whom I have believed in, and am persuaded that He is able to take that which I have committed unto Him against that day."
 
 

Damien is 13.  He comes from a small town in Quebec.  I spent a lot of time with Damien.  He was what most people would call a troublemaker.  He was a natural leader, but sometimes he did not make wise choices in the direction he chose to lead.  Damien claimed to be a Christian, but the words that proceeded out of his mouth were a dim witness of that fact.

I talked with Damien on different occasions.  I saw in him the potential to be something great for the Lord.  He is an incredible person, since he is a leader, he could be an incredible witness to his friends for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Damien and I played basketball together several times, and had some pretty deep discussions about Christianity.  He told me that he really wanted to make a change in his life.  He realized that it would not be easy, he had a lot of bad habits to break.  But he was confident that through Jesus he could really change.

People immediately started to notice a change.  He started helping people, and saying encouraging things to people.  I was really excited to see the Lord work in his heart.  But then Damien got frustrated, and started slipping back into his old language habits.  Things were hot and cold for the rest of camp.  Damien still has a long way to go.  But as is the story with all Christians, God is constantly working on us, and He will not give up.

Damien has a desire to witness for Jesus.  He will have a very powerful testimony for the Lord, if he yields up his whole life to his Savior.  I am sure that he would greatly appreciate your prayers for him.
 
 

Valerie is an 11 year old girl whose primary language is French.  We spent a lot of time together, even though I could not understand her at all when she spoke French, and she struggled to understand my English.

It was really neat how God worked things out, because Valerie really wanted to learn English.  And her spending time with me forced her to speak it.  She also taught me a little bit about French.  Her and the other little French girls all tried in vain to teach me French, they loved to laugh at my very bad pronunciation.

Since I had a hard time communication with Valerie, I really didn't know where she stood with the Lord.  I prayed for her a lot during the course of the two weeks.

At the end of the two weeks, on Testimony Night, Valerie got up to share her testimony.  Phil translated in English what she said.  She spoke about what Jesus meant to her, and how He had saved her.  And sometimes when she needed to talk to God, she would go alone into her room, and lock the door, and just be alone with Jesus.

I learned a lot from Valerie, one thing is that love transcends language barriers.
 
 

Jonathan is a 15 year old boy who had an incredible personality.  Everybody who meets him immediately likes him.  He almost always has a big grin on his face.  His joyfulness is a clear evidence of a strong reliance on God.  Jonathan has been through a lot of pain these past few years.  Three years ago Jonathan's mother died of cancer.  Jonathan only knew a week before she died that she was even sick.

I did not get to know Jonathan very well at camp, but I was deeply touched by his testimony.  On Testimony Night he shared about how God had brought him through this very hard time in his life.  I was sitting towards the back of the room while he was sharing, and unbeknownst to him, as he began his testimony the door opened and his father walked in.  He heard his son sharing about his faith in God.  Jonathan's testimony brought many tears to my eyes, and to many others in the room.  Here is a young boy who has been through so much, yet still can testify that God is faithful.  Jonathan ended his testimony with the same question that I had asked Elizabeth.  "I just want to ask you all one question.  If you were to die tonight, are you sure you would go to Heaven?"
 

Each one of the kids that I met at Parkside Ranch had an incredible impact on my life.  I was deeply touched by their openness to the things of the Lord, and their hunger for Him.  I am so thankful to Him that He allowed me to go, and thankful to all those from my Church who made it possible.  I will always remember each one of those kids that I met at Parkside, and will pray for them, who knows what great things God may do through each one of them!

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