Written by: Frank Zhang
I’ve done many summers of camp in my life, both as a camper and a counsellor, but this summer has been a new experience for me all together. I’ve felt very humbled leading these kids in day camp and it’s shown me how much more there is for me to grow as a leader and a role model. One of the biggest learning experiences for me has been the struggle to love and lead kids who are so against authority. My typical tactics of using my voice and warning of consequences worked seldom with these kids and getting them to cooperate turned out to be one of the biggest challenges of this whole internship. As a result, building relationships with them also turned out to be much harder than I anticipated because for anything meaningful to be built, I had to overcome my struggle of loving them unconditionally and through all the hardships they gave me. But God had a purpose for me here and I am now starting to see His vision of showing me His power perfected through my weakness.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
A very recent experience of mine was humbling in a different way as we encountered a lady on the public transit who had a lot of things to say. She spoke many insults and racial slurs to our whole group as we boarded the bus. The reaction of our kids was anything but fearful though as they immediately took up arms with their own retorts and insults. I had to be a barrier between the kids and the lady, trying to settle both sides down simultaneously along with help from some of my colleagues. The result of the whole ordeal was that we had to exit the bus and leave from the situation because the lady was not backing down or removing herself from the situation. I felt very powerless in this situation as I felt a total loss of control of the kid’s behaviour on the bus and also a failure for not being able to do much to protect our kids from many of the unacceptable comments made by the lady. We eventually boarded another bus at the next bus stop, and I sat at the back of the bus with the group who was part of the confrontation with the lady. The atmosphere felt very different in a very peaceful way and the conversations I took part in were probably the best I’ve had all summer with this specific group of kids. As I reflected on how much I enjoyed listening to these kids talk about their hair, I knew that this experience had God’s fingerprints all over it and that He is at work in our hearts and building a relationship between me and these kids even if it hasn’t seemed like it in the day to day.
My time here has been very difficult, to say the least, but I’ve gotten to see God at work in me so tangibly. As God loves us unconditionally, I am learning to love others in the same way, especially with those who truly seem like they are out to make my life so miserable. He has shown me that He will provide the experiences and opportunities for me to build positive relationships with people in His sovereign timing and that all I am required to do is follow His lead. My ultimate weakness is simply not leaning on God more and I am grateful for the learning experience that His power is perfected through my weakness.
