Wednesday morning, instead of classes, the campers and staff wandered over the bridge, through the woods, to grandma—err I mean, to the challenge course. The campers were split into three different groups and began conquering the various obstacles.
The trust fall particularly stood out to me the most and evoked the most fear and triumph for the campers. This is my least favorite obstacle and it proved to be a hard one for many campers to overcome as well. A few campers put on a brave face, climbed up to the ledge, and ended up climbing back down out of fear.
A few things stood out to me while this was occurring. First, the entire team continuously encouraged their peers to conquer their fear and fall back. Second, if their teammate climbed down, there was nothing but encouraging and uplifting words flowing from their mouths.
Other fun challenges that the campers participated in were The Island, where they had to fetch a rope and swing across the lava onto the safe island using teamwork and strategy. Another group started at the TP shuffle, where they had to rearrange themselves from oldest to youngest without stepping off the beam. If they stepped or fell off, they had to start over.
The challenge course used to be one of my least favorite activities, but the more I participate in the course, the more I see Jesus through each obstacle.
While at the trust fall, I have come see the parallel of falling into our peers’ arms and falling into the arms of Christ. There are times when God calls us to simply trust him and fall; sometimes we take a deep breath and fall in faith, other times we back down and don’t trust Him. Either way a lesson is learned. If we fall, we know God is there to catch us time and time again and if we climb down, we know we climb into an ocean of grace.
