There’s Just No Solo Climbing in This Life

This summer one of our Day Camp teams faced the challenge of assuring a young camper with Cerebral Palsy could participate in all the activities (a goal we have for all our campers).

The biggest of these activity challenges turned out to be our climbing wall.

You see because of this camper’s condition he had no use of his legs and little strength in his arms, both of which are essential to successfully scaling a wall.

Our staff knew the situation demanded a creative solution if this camper would have the thrill of climbing the wall and ringing the bell at the top.

The team didn’t dismiss the problem with an “it just can’t be done” or “we guess God didn’t intend this camper to have this experience” kind of response. No, our team stayed with it until they found a way – a way which turns out, in hindsight, to being an obvious solution to the problem.

So they put harnesses on the camper and two of our staff, one staff member on the left side of the camper and one on his right. Then as the camper placed his hands on the rock holds our staff carried him up to the top.

When the bell rang out for everyone to hear our team knew a couple of special things just happened. First this camper experienced the thrill and satisfaction of reaching the top of the wall and ringing the bell. Second, everyone learned an important lesson – that we all need help from God and others if we’re to succeed in the life God’s given us.

The truth is there’s just no solo climbing in this life if we’re to reach the place God’s created for us and become the people He’s created us to be.