Alex told me how the camp was beginning to feel like a zombie movie, with everyone quietly walking around in a daze. At first I shrugged him off, but as I went down the dorm hall checking on all the students who were sick his words rang true. All the students were either passed out, looking deathly ill, or afraid they would be next. Morgan had just gotten sick, before I arrived in his room. When I asked him how he was doing, he told them he was fine, but that this all seemed a little like Andromeda Strain. “They all started out with the stomach flu…” I of course told him he was crazy, that it was just the flu and we all soon be fine. But as I left the room Matthew was walking down the hall and his shirt was covered in blood. I looked up at his face and there was blood running down. “Sean, I have a nose bleed.” But all I could think was that his brains must be melting and we were all doomed…
Later while in the shower-in a clean bathroom (it was a little crazy how everyone got divided and on the bus the sick were sent to the back… made me want to join Rosa Parks, of course I am kidding, because then it was the people in the front of the bus who were sick!!!)-I was talking with Tim and he asked why God would allow us to get sick? We were at Church camp, shouldn’t he protect us… and this is a good question, which no one can answer fully (God is bigger than us, it is ok not to know everything! If you think you know it all God is in a box!). I wish I could tell you the answer, but I prayed for healing which never came and by the end I was sick (of course God helped me till the end!). All I can say, in my understanding, God does not cause everything. Of course He could prevent it, but sometimes He chooses to let things play out…
Still, there is good which came out of the darkness. The leaders always say they love you, but this week they have proven themselves. They were willing to clean up puke, to clean a bathroom, to sit beside a sick person, to run silly getting things-all the while risking infection-because they love you and could do nothing but care for you in your time of need. In them you saw a vision of Christ, who risks everything to care for us, the sick. (Random, below is the dreaded norovirus!)
PLUNGE47 
It’s taken us this long to get back on our feet in our household. Questioning why all this happened is a normal process. Knowing the answer, well, that’s another story. Somewhere in the midst of the experience, someone asked that same question over in our dorm…..and all I could do was give them Romans 8:28. At this point, what I CAN say is that I got to know my fellow counselors on a deeper level….and I got to know some campers that under normal circumstances, I might not have spent any time with. Lastly, the whole ordeal has propelled me into reading and responding to the BLOG!
At Sunday School today it seemed like everyone is still recovering. Well, I guess the people who were sick would not have been there, so I have no idea how many people are sick. Probably not that many.
Just checking in,we have been out of town ;however, Max,Andy,Molly are still on the I survived camp….list. Not having been at camp though I was extremely touched by camp reflections and just wanted to say I felt a huge sense of comradre(maybe not spelled right) that perhaps was a direct result of the dreaded virus plague. And just like Greg talked in his sermon that Sunday we often learn so much more during our trials. In many ways this may be the camp most remembered for reasons other than the “plague.” GOD IS IN CONTROL and will always carry out his plans. Aren”t we thankful for that. ***To all you 6th grade girls I sure am missing our Wed Dive Teams and look forward to hearing your camp stories……………..Kay Knight