HEADING DOWN THE RIGHT PATH
Heading Down the Right Path
By Rev. Steve Bailey, Board of Communications Chairman
Some of the most important choices we make in life hardly seem like choices at all. By the time I was 16 years old I’d been to our youth group meetings countless times. I’d even been elected president, more from lack of competition than political savvy.
One evening, our local church contact person for camps came and did a presentation on camping. Since I lived in Delaware, Ohio – a town split by the conference line – no one that I knew had ever gone to summer camp. The rest of the kids were pretty rude and disinterested. So, attempting to be a good leader, I asked for more information about one of the camps that sparked a bit of interest. I had no idea where that simple request would lead me. It was the single most important decision of my life.
Two nights later, the lady called to tell me that the United Methodist Women were going to pay my way to camp and that I was already signed up to attend! I briefly thought of resisting this near kidnapping, but a part of me said, “Go see what it’s all about. You don’t have anything better to do.”
The week of camp was called “Retarded Person’s Camp” and it was held at Camp Wanake. It involved pairing high school kids with mentally disabled campers, and spending the week as a buddy to the camper. This path would be way outside of my comfort zone.
When I arrived at camp that Sunday afternoon in 1975, I didn’t know a single person. I had never been to camp. I had never had close contact with a mentally disabled person. And I had more questions than answers when it came to my faith. Really, I was heading down a path that I had no business being on.
That week I met people who have become lifelong friends. During the years since that week, some have become professors or teachers or pastors. One of the most important friends I met was a man named Jesus, who became real to me, as we studied his words and lived them out with our amazing community of love. Being a friend with Jesus can really take you places.
At the end of that week, after tearful goodbyes with our campers, we held a closing circle. As we prepared to leave camp and return home, the leaders of the camp went around the circle and one placed a cross made of nails around my neck. It remains one of the most precious keepsakes of my earlier life.
I don’t wear that cross much – haven’t for several years. But it is always with me. It’s a continual presence that is carved into me like an invisible tattoo. I can never forget what I discovered on that path that I never intended to travel. I can never walk away from the friend that I found there.
That experience led to return trips to Camp Wanake. Eventually I worked on the camp staff in 1980-82. I met Marcy, my future wife, there. I received my call to ordained ministry there. I met many friends there almost 30 years ago, along with many other people who are colleagues in ministry to this day.
The path came full circle two years ago, when my older daughter Liza worked on the Wanake staff. One week, she worked with “special persons camp” as it has been renamed. The week after that, we sat on our deck and she told me about the campers, and the special place they had found in her heart.
As you read the following pages, you’ll learn about opportunities that could very well change your life or the life of a child in your care. It may look like just one more thing to try and squeeze into a busy summer, but it may be much more than that. What I can tell you is that my decision to travel the path I found myself on many years ago changed everything in my life, and still reverberates in my soul on a regular basis. When I’m doing ministry at my best, I’m doing many of the same tasks that I first learned at Camp Wanake with a partner who needed a friend.
Whatever path you find yourself taking, I hope it is the right path for you. And I hope that you discover friends along the way, purpose in your stride, and a part of God who truly becomes your good friend.