As summer comes to a close, stories begin flowing in about the impact of various Angel Tree camps on specific campers. Every year, great stories come out of Camp IdRaHaJe (“I’d Rather Have Jesus”) in the Denver area. This year, longtime Angel Tree volunteer Joe Waldinger received the following letter from a camper named Dupree who had attended Camp IdRaHaJe for a number of years:
Dear Mr. Waldinger,
I want to thank you for a fantastic week at camp ID RA HA JE. I really thank god for the blessing of being able to worship the lord in a wonderful environment, because without you I probably wouldn’t be the Christian I am today. Every year I am excited to go to this camp and it has always brought peace to my life whenever I attend it. Over the next year I am hoping to enroll in the SALT program and have a job at camp next summer. Over the week at camp I really opened my eyes and noticed what I need to do to have a better life with God. From now on I am trying to stay consistent with scripture and prayer, and hoping to stay in contact with the other campers I met. But overall I thank God for the opportunity to attend the camp and have someone like you to help me follow Christ.
Stories like these remind us that we are making a long-term impact in the lives of young people—an impact that is equipping them for adult lives filled with a relationship with God and service to others. And once in a while, we hear a story about a young life that is not just being enriched and encouraged, but one that is being drastically redirected—as in the case of one young man who showed up last week at the Angel Tree football camp at Stanford University.
Dean Johnson, one of the speakers at the camp who travels around the world performing feats of strength, shared that a 13-year-old young man approached him after his talk. The young man told Dean that prior to hearing Dean speak at the previous year’s Angel Tree camp, he had been involved with a gang. He had tried church for a while, but had decided return to the gang. But after hearing Dean’s message last year, he decided to give church a try, but this time with Jesus in his heart. He told Dean “I didn’t want anything to do with God and God wanted everything to do with me.” According to Dean, this young man has been enjoying his new life in Christ for over a year now.
It’s hard to know what to say to that, except that God is clearly at work through these unique summer experiences.
You can participate in helping to create opportunities like this. Particularly, we’re looking for individuals who will give a gift that could change a life forever. Learn more here.