Missing Camper

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, November 30.

By Andrew McChesney

T

his is the story of a camp counselor who lost a boy.

Seven-year-old Liam ran all over the place at the Seventh-day Adventist summer camp in Alaska. It was hard to get him to go to bed at night. It was hard to keep track of his whereabouts during the day. Halfway through the week of camp, Liam ran away.

The trouble started when Liam’s camp counselor, Adiv, confronted the boy about going somewhere without first letting him know. “What are you doing here?” Adiv asked when he found him. “You have to make sure your counselor knows where you are at because if we lose you, it’s a problem.”

As he was talking, Liam just ran away.

Adiv and other camp staff members searched and searched for Liam, but they couldn’t find him.

Adiv prayed.

Still no Liam.

Adiv went to the camp director. “I can’t find this kid,” he said. “I don’t know where he’s at.”

About 45 minutes later, Liam reappeared. He came out of some bushes, and he was smiling as big as possible.

Adiv didn’t smile. “You can’t do this,” he told him.

“What’s wrong?” the boy asked.

“You can’t run away,” Adiv said. “That’s not OK.”

Liam stopped smiling. He didn’t like being corrected. As Adiv was talking, he ran away again. But this time Adiv knew where he had gone. He and another camp counselor, Jacob, went into the bushes and saw Liam scamper up a tree.

Standing at the bottom of the tree, Jacob called up, “We would love it if you would come down and we could talk.”

Liam looked down from the upper branches of the tree.

“I hate Adiv,” he said. “I wish he would die.”

The boy’s words stung Adiv. But he was determined to show God’s love to Liam.

“I love you,” he called back.

“I don’t care,” Liam said. “I hate you.”

“That’s OK,” Adiv said. “I love you. I don’t want you to get hurt. Please, come down.”

Jacob also asked the boy to come down.

But Liam refused. “I don’t care if I die or get hurt,” he said.

When Adiv heard those words, he felt terrible. He realized that Liam probably had a tough life at home. He was only 7, but he already didn’t care about anything. Again, Adiv asked him to come down, but he wouldn’t budge.

Adiv and Jacob waited for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the boy slowly made his way down the tree.

When Liam reached the bottom, Adiv told him that he would have to spend the rest of the day at his side. He wanted Liam to know that he had lost trust, and he didn’t want him to run away again.

That night, before worship, Adiv had a heart-to-heart talk with Liam.

“It hurt me when you said that you hate me,” he said. “I want you to know that, not because I want you to feel badly but because I want you to know that your words hurt me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Liam looked down. “I understand,” he said quietly.

“My job is to make sure that you know Christ and are safe and protected,” Adiv said. “You don’t have to like me.”

The rest of the week went well. Liam spent a lot of time at Adiv’s side. When Adiv was eating lunch, the boy was beside him. When he was sitting at the fire to keep warm, the boy was there.

Adiv doesn’t know what will happen next to Liam. Even though he lost the boy at the camp, he hopes that the boy, through the camp, finds Jesus.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates eight summer camps in Alaska every year. One of those camps, Camp Polaris, outside Dillingham, received part of a 2015 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering to build new cabins and real toilets and showers. Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help share God’s love in Bethel, Alaska.