My Escape From A Christian Summer Camp

When I was young my mother always had this pursuit to make my summers as enjoyable as possible, and for some strange reason she thought that I needed her help to make my summers fun. She could not be more wrong, in fact the “fun” activities she signed me up for always seemed to be the parts of my vacation I dreaded the most. From week long robotics camps that I had never shown any interest in, to week long outdoors camp, to the icing on the cake, a week long Christian summer camp. Though I initially dreaded the idea of the outdoors camp, it actually turned out to be a lot of fun mountain biking and canoeing in Maine. But we are not here to talk about the unexpected good time I had at a summer camp, that isn’t much fine to write or read about. Today I am here to tell you about the time I, a ten year old kid unexpectedly escaped from a Christian summer camp where we were not allowed to bring any form of cell phones. 

It was seven years ago when my Mom decided that she should sign my sister and I up for a summer camp together. She had talked around with the people in our community and they had recommended a free summer camp that was put on by the Mechanic Falls Vineyard Church. My sister and I were not raised with any religious influence. My parents were not opposed to the idea of religion by any means, it just was an interesting scenario with a Russian Mother and my Father not having any background either. So I never had any collation with any religion nor did my sister, so this was completely new. Since I was only ten I was not completely comfortable being away from my parents for extended periods of time. This was the first overnight summer camp I had been to, up until this point they were only day camps. As mentioned before they did not allow the campers to bring any technology, and without any say in the matter my Mom signed my sister and I up. Wonderful. 

So we pack our bags and we are on our way to this camp. I went into it with an open mind hoping to meet some new friends. The first day was pretty fun. We did activities and played games and I met a lot of new people. What I was not expecting was to undergo an entire night of worship. Again I am not opposed to religion but I had never been introduced to anything so this was completely different for me. A guy led everyone in worship and prayer and I was extremely uncomfortable and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t find my sister so I felt like the only one in the entire room who had no idea what was going on. Everyone around me had their eyes closed and were talking along with the pastor at the front of the room. I managed to make it through the worship session but what I was really blindsided by was what they all did when they went to bed. They obviously split the boys and girls up into different cabins so I was now getting ready to go to sleep with a bunch of boys I did not know. As we were getting ready for bed the camp counselor asked all the campers if they needed anyone to pray for them. And they asked me about it and they prayed for me, looking back it was extremely kind and nice. But I was so uncomfortable I didn’t know what to do and they all crowded around me and made me feel so weird. 

The next day I decided that it was time for me to make my escape. The camp took place in July, and it so happened to be the week of my Dad’s birthday. So I went up to the counselor and I asked him if he would let me use his phone so I could call my dad. Instead of calling my Dad I called my mother. I did not have long on the phone and the counselor was just out of earshot so I whispered to my Mom “Hey mom, it’s Max. You gotta come and get me mom I do not like it here. They are making us pray and worship and stuff please come get me today.” I spit that sentence out to my Mom as fast and as quietly as I could. I patiently waited for her answer clenching my fist in anticipation until she finally said “Okay”. That one word was all it took for a huge weight to be lifted off of my chest. My Mom drove up from our house to the camp, it took about an hour for her. I was ready with my bags packed and I hopped in her car and left with her. I was in the lunch room when she came to get me and I think I shocked most of the campers and counselors. They did not expect me to be able to leave the camp, but since I was able to borrow a phone I was able to get myself out. 

Whenever I tell this story it always reminds me of the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. If you have not seen that movie it is about how a teenager tricks his parents and his school into thinking that he is sick and is staying home because of it. I believe that I parallel this with my story in how I tricked the counselor and was able to get everything together perfectly to where I could get out. In the movie it is built up that Ferris always does these unexpected and crazy things, and I do not believe that anyone was expecting me to figure out how to get out of the camp.
Photo by Photon-Huntsman on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA