What does it take to lose your breath? A car to house sprint on a rainy day? The first sight of your beloved coming home after a long trip? A tense ending to a big border battle football game?
For those of us blessed to work in the Camp office, the simple act of opening an envelope is often enough to take our breath away. (For the record, I’m not the one who opens Camp’s donor mail, but on occasion I do get to hear the aspirating sounds of the one who does!)
As 2015 closed out and 2016 opened, there were many “lost breath” moments for our team as many incredible Camp friends did many incredible things to bless their Camp. The $50,000 “use where needed” check pictured above was one of those. Wow
Twelve gifts in the $1000 – $2500 range also left us breathless. One family added $1400 to our Scholarship Endowment Fund and another shared a stock gift of $1594 to help with operations. And then there was that woman who put a check for $3000 in my hand before sneaking away from a quilt retreat. Not only couldn’t I breathe. I also had a difficult time seeing!
And it’s not just the size of the gift that gets us wheezing! We know the impact of a $10 monthly gift. Added together, all those prayer-infused gifts from churches, regular donors, and other friends grew into a $107,929 December blessing. On top of all that, now we can many generous January gifts!
We prayed for a strong finish to an amazing year of ministry. God answered and also blessed us with a tremendous boost into what promises to be a fruitful 2016. With all four youth retreats expected to top last year’s levels, it looks like we’ll be off to a great start. Woo hoo!
Forgive us, then, if we cannot sing the doxology with you. We’re just a bit winded at the moment.
