Opportunity Knocks

The Christmas lights have been turned out. Even the girl’s flashlight have been put away and all is peace and quiet. The camper’s bags have been packed and on top of their beds sit their clothes for tomorrow, the day when they finally get to see their parents or guardians again! “12:17 am”, my clock tells me as I lay down to sleep. It’s been a late night with the special “girl’s party” we had to close out the week and then story telling as they fell into exhausted sleep. But I’m not quite ready for bed.

Silently, I walk to each girl’s bed. Gently, I place my hands on their shoulder and softly whisper a prayer for each of these girls, my girls for the week. They’re so tiny, the youngest being only 7 and the oldest not quite 10. So much of life they have seen yet how much more they have yet to face. As I pray, I wonder what battles each one may someday face. There’s no telling so although I pray for some things specifically, the rest of my words paint broad strokes over their future lives.

I walk back to my bed and sit down on the edge. I know I need to go to sleep but these girls are still on my mind, and one questions keeps ringing in the back of my mind.

“Have I done enough?”

I try to push it aside as I feel tears gathering in my eyes but now that I’ve begun to wonder, there’s no getting rid of the questions.

“Was I always Jesus to them? Did I always reveal His love to them?”

“Were all their questions answered and were the answers I gave easy enough to understand and take to heart?”

“What opportunities did I miss because I was too tired or busy? Was one of my girls ready to accept Jesus when a mistake of my own distracted her from that choice?”

“Did I give it my all? Did I do all that I could?”

At times I know I could have done more. Perhaps someone with more Biblical knowledge could have given better answers and someone more in tuned to the Holy Spirit could have seen opportunities I might have missed.

Yet it’s not the opportunities missed that we focus on. Yes, they’re important to acknowledge and avoid in the future, but the opportunities capitalized on are what have the most value and prepare us for further work.

It’s the deep talks about the God’s gift of freewill as we walked back from the night time meetings that the girls would continue to ask questions about and eventually begin repeating it back to me and the other campers as similar questions came up throughout the week.

It’s the canoeing trips for fun turned into conversation about the purpose of baptism and how salvation and baptism fit together.

It’s the simple questions, such as what did a picture of a snake and a piece of fruit have to do with the Bible that turned into a retelling of the plan of salvation for a girl who didn’t know that story very well.

Now as another week rolls along, I pray that God will show me similar opportunities to reach my girls this week. Will I miss the mark sometimes? Probably, but I trust that God is a big enough God to cover my mistakes and reveal Himself to each camper this week.