I
met Davis and his aide, Kate, at Capernaum camp last year. Davis is 19 years
old and in a wheelchair. He is not very verbal and has much difficulty with
loud music and crowds. I got to know Davis as I helped his aide get his feeding
pump working (my daughter is also tube-fed so I am called in when someone’s
having trouble!) and I entertained him with my imitations of Elmo and other
Sesame Street characters.
On
the first day of camp, I saw Kate pull in to camp with Davis and ran over to
greet them. Davis had an Elmo stuffed animal this year, so my Elmo imitation
got an early audience!
Davis
wasn’t doing well with the crowd and staying in our club meetings, so I had one
of our property staff members set up a simulcast in the game room. Kate said,
“I don’t want anyone to have to go to any trouble.” I replied, “Well, you don’t
know where you are then, because it isn’t any trouble for us!” We often do
whatever it takes for kids at Young Life camp, and just like in Mark 2, I had
no doubts that we would “cut a whole in the roof” for a Capernaum camper to
hear the gospel.
At
the end of the message, our camp speaker, Lori Conner shared with the kids that
Jesus is making them an offer of relationship and they need to make
a choice. She told them if they wanted a relationship with Jesus, they
could say, "Yes,” to Jesus and she explained a simple “ABC” prayer -
Admit, Believe, Commit.
When Lori said this
and Davis heard it over the simulcast, he hopped in his wheelchair and
shouted, “Yes, yes, yes! A-B-C, A-B-C, A-B-C!” When Lori told us the story, we
all cried. I have seen a lot of kids – mostly typically functioning high
schoolers – meet Christ at Young Life camp, but that was one of the most
powerful conversions I have seen!
I
am so blessed by knowing Davis and grateful that God brought him to Rockbridge,
we “cut a hole in the roof” by setting up the simulcast, and his prayer has
impacted so many people.
