When you tell other adults that you spent a week of your
summer chaperoning a youth trip, you get a mixed bag of reactions, ranging from
an exclamation about my level of bravery, to lamenting over my “misfortune,” to
questions about how we got through the trip.
For me, it’s genuinely fun. It
isn’t a hardship to me; it’s something I got to do.
Last week, I chaperoned the youth trip to Passport Choices
in Greensboro. I’m definitely no
stranger to Passport or to youth trips in general. I am, however, a stranger to going on a week
long youth trip as a 32-year-old with a toddler at home, who kept telling her
daddy that she felt mad because “mommy left.”
Two-year-old guilt trips aside, both Amelia and Adam handled the week
wonderfully and I am so grateful to a husband who is a wonderful, capable
father. I won’t insult him by implying
that it’s more impressive for him to keep her alone for a week, just because
he’s her father rather than her mother, but I am grateful to him as a
co-parent, a husband, a friend and a support.
Anyway, it has been a decade since I chaperoned a trip to
Passport. My Passport story is long and
probably more than you want to hear right now.
So for now, suffice it to say that I’ve been on the other side of things,
in many ways, and honestly, it was tough to turn off the skills that have
become more familiar in that setting. For
that week, I did my best to just be a chaperone, to concentrate on our youth,
to be low-key, to enjoy.
The week itself was a good week. I am grateful to Passport, as I always am,
for their commitment to reaching youth.
They are able to have experiences that remind them that they are
precious for who they are, as they are, both to us and to God. Passport provides a setting in which youth
are not emotionally manipulated, language is intentional, and they are able to
experience new things and meet new people.
This is not the case with all Christian youth camps.
This particular week, the youth I chaperoned all bought in
and all had a wonderful time, even the ones that were hesitant about going to
begin with. Because we went to
Passport’s Choices camp, some of them visited an international supermarket and
a mosque, some learned how to sumo wrestle, some wrote a song, some made art,
some found a place on stage, some learned how to check oil, some learned that
people with disabilities can still be great dancers and all of them played
games, sang songs, prayed, shared with each other and lived together for a
week. Everything came together to help
them answer the question; “what will you do with your one wild and precious
life?”
I could give you the details of how camp happens; I could
tell you the small complaints that happen during a week of living on top of
each other. I could also go on and on
about why I love camp and Passport specifically, but for now, I’m going to
leave it at that. I hope that you’ll take the time to hear stories from youth
you know who had experiences like this.
I hope that you’ll think about what it meant to you, if you were lucky
enough to have a similar experience. And,
I hope that my Passport life isn’t over yet; it may look a little different,
but it isn’t over. I am grateful for
that.
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