Going on a mission trip is somewhat of common place thing for churches to do, but recently I had an opportunity to go on one to Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, NC. It was far from the norm. Now one could say what made it unique was the people I traveled there with and I will admit it made it an unique adventure to say the least.I went down with my son, Mitchell, my wife, Kari, and church members and our friends, Arvel, Phyllis and Kimber. Now to understand how this trip was unique you need to know that Mitchell and Kimber are an "item" (boy and girl friend). So our two families started out the journey loaded up with the items the Women's Christian Fellowship had made for the campers.
Of course the beauty of Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina is amazing. The mountains are so beautiful and at times are breathtaking. We all seemed to take in God's handiwork as we traveled the interstate to our destination.
We spent the night in Greensboro, NC, made the short drive to the camp the next morning. When we arrived we were all amazed at the beauty of the camp's entrance. I was happy to see the camp matched the pictures that I saw on the Internet about this camp.
We were taken on a tram and driven around the camp, it is obvious that the theme of the camp is NASCAR. The camp was built in memory of Adam Petty, who died in a wreck during a practice NASCAR run. There is a building that looks like a large race car; a bowling alley called Victory Lanes, donated by Jimmy Johnson the popular driver who drives the "Lowe's" #48 car. But the most amazing part of the camp is the children that come to the camp and the ability of the staff to meet their needs.
Over the summer, there will be children with arthritis, hemophilia, autism, sickle cell, spina bifida, down syndrome, epilepsy and many more other diseases. They try to put the kids with the same disease together for a week. A doctor who specializes in that disease volunteers to be at the camp that week. Also there is a small hospital on site in case of emergencies...a hospital that can do blood transfusions and dialysis.
I came from the experience wanting to become more active with this wonderful camp for children. We are working with Victory Junction to have a team from the church attend next summer to volunteer to work. As the brochure for the camp states, "Victory Junction Gang Camp is summer camp, Disneyland, and a box of crayons mixed in a blender and a special retreat for children."
Now back to the adventure part of the trip...one of the things you don't want to do is to lose your wedding ring at the first rest stop in West Virgina...fortunately my wife did not get upset and yes, believe it or not, purchased a new wedding band for me on the trip.
