Monday’s Message – Winshape C3 An Open Letter
This week I will be taking a blogging break to spend some much needed time with my family. However, I couldn’t help but reflect on the amazing week God granted us through Winshape C3 Camp last week. I am grateful for a church family who generously partnered together to make camp possible for children in our community! Each day campers learned amazing Truths about God! Here are a few…
- We are something because Christ became nothing!
- I am alive because Christ lives inside!
- We are okay because Christ rules the day!
Not sure what is so great about this camp except we send flyers to public schools and the kids seem excited to go.
And then there is B12, a number refered to the first initial and age of a foster child. B12 is a shy, timid and quiet child. It does not take an expert to see that she has been damaged in shipping. I mean damged like, abused, neglected, abandoned, and perhaps the greatest blow in transit, the loss of her parents.
B12 will make you fall in love with her quickly, why? That is her job. I mean when you have moved to 7 different places in your 12 years, you have to learn to make people like you, because who knows when number 8 will come and who knows why. So suck it up hide the scars and smile real big and maybe just maybe they will let you stay a little while longer than the last place. Yet all the while try not to get attached to the people who say they care about you because… well, number 8 is right around the corner.
B12 however has spent the last four days at Winshape and although she admits accepting Jesus as her Savior a few years ago, she has been very mad at Him for what “He did to her.” B12 sings in church because everybody else does and prays at dinner because everbody else does. There is something about this camp at this moment and in this church that has changed her outlook on Jesus.
Bridget, yes, she has an actual name, has recommitted her life to Jesus and has never felt the Holy Spirit move in her heart and take her pain away like she has this week. She does not underand why she is so happy and ready to talk, sing and dance. Now she is ready to move on with her life. More today than yesterday she has an understanding that she is a child of God and that church is not a place to perform but a place to worship and God is to be worshiped and He loves her.
If you only knew what it meant to my wife and I who try to treat children like Bridget just like thier our very own. When you see them hurting and can only do so much. When only prayer and time will help heal the loss of her parents, a camp like Winshape comes along and ignites the love of Jesus in a little girls heart words cannot describe and our thanks could not be expressed enough.
(guest post written by Shane Baxley)
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Wow! That’s an amazing & touching story. Thank you Shane for allowing it to be shared. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it really takes a special kind of family to open their lives, hearts & home to others not born of the same blood. That is a sacrifice that is shared by the entire family. Not just that, but to be willing to share the word of God and not just be satisfied with providing a loving, safe place. God seems to have placed you right where he wants you in order for that story to have taken place. Keep following Gods plan. You & your family are an inspiration!
Glory to God. I am greatful for a young family like you and your wife who are willing to serve God in His church with His children…. In His service,
The Baxley family.