Are we crazy? Maybe. Maybe we just have faith.
Last spring a few volunteers ran a race to raise camp funds. It was tough, because it was
rainy and cold. However, we actually raised over $3,000 doing that last year. So it was worth it,
and worth doing again this year; but with a semi-crazy twist.
One of the volunteers decided that just running the race wasn’t enough to get people to
give to his cause. So he said that he would add a layer of clothing for every gift to his online fund-
raiser page until he had a full snowsuit on in the race. His page was so popular for raising camp
funds that I decided to use his idea too. I am adding one piece of hockey equipment for every
donor. So far we are about half suited up each, and we’ve raised $700 between the two of us.
In a road race the right clothing is essential. You don’t want items that are bulky or create
uncomfortable friction. I’ve had some friction problems in the past. Trust me, it’s uncomfort-
able. “So why have I agreed to wear a jersey, shoulder pads, elbow pads, helmet, breezers, hockey
socks, and shin guards on a 6.1 mile run,” I think to myself, “Oh and by the way, the forecast is
calling for more rain.” I’m going to run in uncomfortable stuff and it will be raining. Am I crazy?
Why are we doing this?”
This might sound strange, but I think the answer is FAITH. You see summer camp is
really the place where DinoMights participants develop what we refer to in our mission statement
as Spiritual Excellence. For some of them it is the fi rst time they hear that God loves them. It is
a place where they often begin a life long journey of faith.
In some cases the journey of urban life carries a lot of uncertainty. Some of our kids are
forced to move every few months, or change phone numbers. Schools close, parents get laid off,
and the roof leaks, because the landlord won’t fi x it. (In fact, the roof will probably be leaking
during our run this Saturday). Their playground is an expanse of unfeeling cold hard concrete over
which they are dragged without having any control. Their journey’s can really be crazy.
I once heard an urban pastor say, “Faith is all we got in the city.”
Faith is all about seeing with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes. It’s what
makes the future things we’re hoping for real right now. It’s a journey to an unknown destination
that you believe is good, even though you’ve never been there before. That kind of sight and cer-
tainty is not always rational. With the obstacles some of our students face, having faith that their
lives can be anything other than chaos may seem a bit crazy. Isn’t it more likely that our kids will
fail? But faith demands that we refuse to accept that possibility. At DinoMights we hope for our
students to have lives that are not crazy. I’m not saying that we hope God is going to fi x every
leaky roof, but I am saying that we hope for our students to be able to look to God when the roof
is leaking and know that God will guide them through it.
So if taking an urban young person out of the city for a week to play in the lush wood-
lands of Northern Wisconsin or the Boundary Waters will allow them to come home with faith;
with something that won’t change while everything around them is in constant fl ux, then let’s do
it. Together let’s do even crazy things to support that journey of faith!
Please consider a ‘crazy’ donation to support ‘faith’ by sending a special gift for Camp
Scholarships.
WE LOVE CAMP!!!
Shunya and Wayne reading books at
Power Camp
Dino boys outside their cabin at Silver
Birch Ranch, with alumus and counselor,
Keenan
