Cops, Catholics and Camp: Police Lieutenant Reflects on His First Experience of Young Life

This guest post was written by Jason Smith, Lieutenant of the Tactical Operations Bureau, and one of my closest friends. A lifelong Catholic, Jason was an adult guest this summer at Timber Wolf Lake,  a Young Life camp in Michigan.

Have you ever been moved in a way that changes how you look at or perceive something? Have you ever been in a place so amazing you can't actually describe it to others who ask? Have you ever been with a group of people, some you know, most you don't, that just ooze love and make you feel like you are the most important person in their life? Have you ever been in a place that was so infused with the Holy Spirit you could actually feel, hear, smell, taste, and see It? Have you ever been so moved you want to cry and smile at the same time? And have you ever seen 217 teenagers "stand up" and give their life to Christ before your very eyes?

I have. I experienced all of those things this summer as a thirty-nine year old "camper" at Timber Wolfe Lake. My family was lucky enough to have been invited by our friends to be a part of something way bigger than us.  As Adult Guests we were invited to watch God work in ways that I never dreamed possible. I literally saw God reach out and touch young people's hearts through the hands of others during a week at Timber Wolf Lake. Weeks later it's still difficult to find the words to describe what I witnessed at camp this summer.

Young Life's mission is simple. Bring the message of Christ to teenagers. Nothing more. Nothing less. You see, the staff and volunteers don't have to tell you their mission. They live it and everyone in their path feels it. Everything they do is a means to accomplish this goal. Yeah the buildings are majestic, the blob is fun, and the grounds are meticulous, but the real secret to Young life's mission? It's about relationships. They reach kids where they’re at. They bring the universal message to kids who have never heard the message of Christ. They tell the story of a redemptive God to kids who are struggling with real life problems at too young an age. They don't pass judgment. They just love em like Christ called us to do. This is something I can get behind. This is something all Christians, no matter your denomination, should get behind.

I am a cradle Catholic that, like many others, left my faith during my late teenage years only to return when I had a family of my own. I went to church every Sunday growing up and went to a Catholic grade school, high school, and even earned my degree from a Catholic university. Despite the Catholic upbringing, I didn't develop a personal relationship with Christ until I was 36 years old. That’s a lot of lost time.

After my experience at camp I keep asking myself, "If I had this experience as a teenager would I have been away from the Church for 20 years? Would I have had developed a personal relationship with Christ as a teenager?" I don't know the answer to those questions and probably never will. I can say however, I very much would have liked to have had the opportunity. 

I want nothing more than to raise my two sons in the finest tradition of the Catholic Church and all it has to offer. But above all I want my sons to know and love Christ in a most personal way. There are so many Catholic teenagers who will take similar paths to mine. I pray both my son's and those teenagers choose a different path.

I think we as Catholics can learn a lot about how Young Life lives their mission, reaches people where they’re at, and shares Christ them. I also think Young Life could learn a lot about how we as Catholics live our faith as a sacramental people. This isn't a competition. This is about Christ!  This is about how we as witnesses bring His message to others and love one another as Christ has called us to do.

Jason and his beautiful family

Catholic Reflections from Young Life Camp

This blog post was written by my lovely wife, Tasha, who spent the last week with me and 36 other guests at the Catholic Adult Guest Camp at Timber Wolf Lake, a Young Life camp in Michigan. Tasha serves as the director of evangelization and discipleship at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church and is also a professional photographer (although she would like it known that the beautiful picture below was taken by Kelsey Jenney, the camp speaker).

It’s quiet at Timber Wolf Lake.  The ten minutes of silence is finishing up and I finally gained a few minutes of solitude to myself.  Chasing our three children around while being here has proven to be a daunting task, a reality that hit me hard once again this morning.  Every year it's the same thing, the anticipation for an incredible week of camp and the amnesia of what it really means to be a staff person’s spouse when they have a role at camp I'm trying to wrangle three small children.  Oy vey. 

And yet today we hit our groove.  We enjoyed free time, conquered the zip line with both our six and three year olds, and managed some much needed rest for my soul and solitude with the Lord.  As I went back early and was putting kids to bed tonight I had some time to just think about all of this…

My life has been changed because of Christ.  That is completely transparent.  It’s who I am, it’s how I desire to live, and it informs my vocation in life.  I can’t imagine what it would be like to walk this world without Him.

And my heart has been filled because of Young Life.  I don’t know why I got lucky enough to experience what this mission is, to enjoy such kingdom living here on earth.  Michael said tonight, “It was a unmerited gift of God to be introduced to Young Life sixteen years ago (when he first went on staff),” and he is so right.  It has been a total gift to our life and our family.

It’s not Young Life in and of itself that is so powerful.  It’s not an organization or a mission statement.  It’s not even fancy buildings or intricately designed schedules. 

It’s an incarnational culture that is palpable.  It’s walking around outside and seeing people spontaneously praying for each other.  It’s meeting someone for the first time and they engage you with questions about your life.   It’s meeting someone for the first time and one of their initial questions is curiosity about how you came to know the Lord. It is FUN.  It is full of life and it is all about Jesus. 

I didn’t get this growing up.  I had an incredible Catholic upbringing and I knew who God was…but I didn’t get these messages about Jesus that cut right to the heart… messages that break through all the bondage and help me understand who He really is.  I didn’t know that I needed Jesus every day…in every relationship…not just in Mass or in a Catholic retreat or service trip.  And when those worlds came together I started to grasp living my Catholic Christianity…

As I was putting Jackson to bed tonight I talked to him about how tonight some kids would have quiet time with Jesus for the first time.  I also told him that some people here didn’t know Jesus, or didn’t have him in their hearts.  He was shocked.  “Really mom?  Like who?” 

“Well buddy we don’t really know who but we just know that they are out there.  We have to pray that God will open them up to receive him tonight.  We want everyone to have Christ in their hearts.”

Tonight my prayer was just that.  My prayer was that all these kids would just know and experience an ounce of that life-changing love of Jesus.  That they would feel pursued by God.  That they would sit in that silence and let go of all the lies and know the truth of Jesus message for them.

And I was brought to tears at the realization of how many kids will know that tonight.  Because they have been brought along by a leader, because they have been sought out, pursued, and known by someone who didn’t have to reach out to them.  Because they heard an incredible message.  Because they laughed in complete freedom for the first time in a long time this week.  Because they put away their cell phones and all the technology that gets in the way of real relationships.  Because they were able to walk away from all that may have once kept them in bondage.  Because they looked around and saw beauty like they’ve never seen it before.  Whatever has brought them to these ten minutes of silence, I prayed that Jesus would engulf them with love.  And I knew before I even said that prayer, that He was doing so at that very moment.  

We have had the incredible privilege of bringing some of our friends from back home to camp with us this week.  Catholic friends who we have been walking with in a couples study for almost a year.  Our priest, our youth minister, a teacher from our Catholic high school…and it’s like the Gospel message.  When you’ve experienced something this good (the way Christianity is lived out so authentically in Young Life) you just want to share it with those you love.  That is what this week has been.  Watching our friends and their kids experience the love of Jesus through the mission of this organization.  Amazing.

No one organization is perfect.  No one mission is complete.   Every institution in some sense will fall short because it is made up of sinners…but this Young Life mission that emphasizes the centrality of Jesus Christ has given my heart an understanding of how to love people and orient my heart to Jesus and it has enlivened my Catholic faith.  For that I am grateful. 

Last night as my son went to bed he was talking about one of his friends who had a rough day and was struggling with his time at camp.  Jackson says, “Mom this is the best place on earth because it’s all about the most important person…Jesus.”

Amen Jackson.  Amen. 

“For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity-the man Christ Jesus.  He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.  This is the message that God gave to the world at just the right time…”  1 Timothy 2:5-6