what I love: Wildwood!!

I ALMOST talked about my passion for youth today.... but then I realized I couldn't talk about some of the most amazing students i've met without first talking about Wildwood. So here goes.

Tucked between the corn, Kum N' Goes, and windmills of Iowa is a secret little safe haven. It's a couple acres of horse stables, cabins, a mess hall, an art house, a lake, a water slide, random trails (my mom got lost in them once), and some random dogs. If you sit on the hill leading down to the lake at night, you can see every single star in the sky. It's like God is hovering straight over Wildwood Ranch, smiling down at it.

Yeah, cheesy right? But these are the kinds of feelings that Wildwood stirs in me. There is something beautiful about the place- the best way I can describe it is there are two types of Christian camps- One that talks ABOUT the Holy Spirit, and one that is FULL of the Holy Spirit. Wildwood is saturated with God's blessing. It's thick and powerful there. Which is good, because if it wasn't, it's purpose would be almost impossible.

Wildwood brings at-risk youth from all over Iowa and gives them a week of just being a kid. They work on team building, self-expression, and respect. They break down walls- really, really THICK walls- that the kids have built up.It's challenging and sometimes heart breaking to deal with these kids who only know how to act out of anger and hurt. They punch you, kick you, ignore you, say ridiculous things to you- all because they want to hurt you before you can hurt them. It's extremely sad.

But this is why I love the ranch- because the Spirit lives there. The Spirit is constantly working in the councelor's hearts, helping them love the kid's through the pain, through the hurt- love them like Christ. It is beautiful, and you can't help but be moved.

I have been there four times- twice with my church as a leader, and twice with some friends. Once you've been there once, you can't stay away. And every time i've gone, I have seen students that came with me turn into leader's. It's crazy, the most self-absorbed, quiet student instantly becomes a selfless leader. It's like as soon as they meet these kids who have been through hell, all of their own problems are lost, and they gain an earnest need to just love. And they do it so well! I was constantly impressed by students who just kept proving themselves to be capable of leadership!

I'm going to tell you a story of a Wildwood kid to close- it's sad, but I think it is important to recognize what these kid's go through.

There was a kid at the ranch who was having a really tough week. He kept getting in these ridiculous fights for no reason. No matter how many times that the counselors talked to him, he kept picking fights! Well one night after another fight, he ran away from his group. The counselors followed him, and found him at the basketball court.

He was trying to cut himself with rocks.

The counselors restrained him, and sat him down, and he just started crying and talking about how he had no friends and no one liked him. He said that he use to play basketball at home, and these kids would come up to him and take his ball, and then leave. He didn't have any friends, and he didn't know how to make them. Suddenly the way he was acting toward the other kids made a ton of sense- he wanted to make friends, he just didn't know how.

The rest of the week, the counselors paid extra attention to him. They made sure he knew he was valued, and he transformed into a smiling little boy. It was amazing.

And there are hundreds of stories like that- hundreds of broken kids who get to feel so much love for a week. This camp brings hope to the hopeless. This camp is Jesus in the flesh.

So, I know this is the longest post ever..... tomorrow will be a LOT shorter. It's gonna be Fun Friday, and i'm going to tell a "true" story called, "Why Chai, Why?"

Loook forward to it!