Earth Camp

The phone rang and it was my longtime friend Michelle calling from Florida. She was crying and saying that her mom had just passed away after a long illness. Tears flowed from my eyes as I tried to console Michelle during her time of great sorrow. It is never easy to let go of our loved ones, no matter how old they are or sick they have been. We spoke for a while and shared fond memories of her mother and discussed the funeral arrangements.

Upon hanging up the phone, I turned around to find my five-year old son David standing there staring at me. I realized he never saw me cry before, and with a fearful face and asked, “Your friend’s mom died? What happened to her?”

As I sniffled and wiped away stinging tears, a million thoughts swept through my mind. I didn’t realize he had overheard my telephone conversation and could see by his face that he was scared. How honest can I be without scaring him further? I had a feeling that his inquisitive little brain was actually asking me, “What will happen if you die?”

Our Christian faith tells us that God sends us here, He loves us and brings us back home to Heaven at our own specific time. How can I explain that on a five-year old level? I knelt on the ground in front of him and met his eyes. I turned my sorrowful face into a fake, happy one. With a shaky voice I said, “You mean I never told you about Earth Camp?”

His curious, green eyes lit up as he shook his head no. I continued, “Well then, let me tell you about it!”

I tried to regain composure as we went into the living room.

David sat on the couch and I was standing in front of him. I waved my arms high and wide indicating the space around us. “You see, Earth camp is where we are now. You and me and all the other people on Earth are here at what is kind of camp.”

He began bouncing up and down in his seat, “We are at camp? I never went to camp like my friend Joey. He told our class about it when he was Student of the Week. You mean to tell me I have been at camp my whole life!”

At that point I sat next to him, “Well, kind of. But Earth camp is for your whole life and summer camp is only for a week or two. God sends us to Earth camp to grow, have fun and do good things.”

David looked over at me with his arms spread out to his sides, “But, how did we get here?”

My mind swirled wondering how to explain, “Um, um…”. And that’s when Divine Guidance stepped in because an explanation formed vividly in my mind, “Well, we um, all start out in Heaven with God. We are tiny, balls of energy called orbs. The orbs are our soul that lives inside us.”

David lifted the front of his shirt and looked down at his belly, “A thing lives inside of me?”

Trying not to confuse him, “Well, no David, it is us! It is the heavenly part of us and the skin is the earthly part of us. Its like the skin protects the soul so it can keep its orb energy and get back to Heaven.”

David began inspecting his left arm, then his right arm, “How does it get in there?”

That’s when the Divine Guidance helped again, “Well, before we come to Earth camp our souls float around in Heaven looking like round, clear bubbles – with no arms or legs.”

He looked grossed out, “Eeewwww!”

I continued, “That’s why God sends our souls to earth to grow inside a mommy’s belly. After we are put into a human belly, our orbs grow a head, arms and legs.”

David shouted excitedly, “Oh Mommy, that’s how I got in your belly!”

Nodding with agreement and smiling, “I know. You were a gift to daddy and me from God! He trusted us to be your parents, so we are like … um, your counselors at earth camp.”

Having never actually been to a summer camp, David asked, “So, you and daddy are counters?”

I smiled, “Not a counter, a counselor. Counselors are grown up people who help the children at camps. Like, remember seeing your baby pictures when you were tiny and in a crib?

David nodded.

“Well, we fed you. Cleaned you. And kept you safe. We also taught you how to do things like walk and talk. As parents and counselors our main job as is to keep you safe and teach you things.”

He nodded excitedly, “Well yeah because I was a gift! And we have to take care of our gifts right mommy?”

“Absolutely, God lets our souls come to Earth camp for a while and have fun in human bodies but then … He misses us.”

David looked sympathetically and said, “He does? Then why does He send us here.”

I replied, “God sends us here to make Earth better. We all have important jobs to do while we are here and need to get it done before we go back to Heaven.

David shouted, “I have a job…but I’m only a little kid!”

Nodding, “Oh yes, even little kids have jobs – small jobs. Like being nice to people, helping others, listening to adults who are trying to help you, learning in school...”

David shrugged, “Huh, I never thought of those as jobs before.”

I replied, “And…..you have more jobs as you get older and wiser! If you are lucky, you get to be a parent counselor too!”

David victoriously thrust his fist in the air, “Yes! Then I can make my kids listen to me and do whatever I tell them! Because then I would be older…and you’re older…and… oh, you are going to get old like Michelle’s mom aren’t you? And then….”

Realizing the “death concept” just popped back into our conversation, “Well you know David, God misses us and wants us to come back home to Heaven to live with Him again.” Thinking quickly to put it back on a five-year old level, “You know when I let you go over a friends house to play?” Well, I don’t expect you to stay there forever do I?”

David laughed, “Nooooo.”

Staring into his smiling face, “Don’t you think me and daddy would miss you and want you to come back home again?”

He nodded, “Yeah, you would. And I would miss you too. And my friends. And my dog. And my bed. And my toys. And …”

I interrupted him before we went through every item in the house, “See, you get what I mean and that must be how God feels too.”

David tilted his head considering all of the things he would be leaving behind on Earth and asked, “Do we have to go back or can we stay at Earth camp?”

I was not sure if the question came from a place of fear or curiosity, but I knew he wanted to know if he had any choice in the matter.

I paused then said, “Well you know, after a while we miss God too! We pray and talk to Him but … our souls want to go back home to Heaven.”

He nervously replied, “Sooo, we want to die?”

I quickly answered, “Oh no, we don’t want to die! Actually, we don’t die, the human body gets sick and worn out, but our souls never die. They change back to being an orb with a human shape and can do way cooler stuff up in Heaven.”

Looking quite sure that he would probably not want to change back to an energy orb, confidently David said, “Um, I think I will just stay here. Unless… does God take us on a plane to Heaven? Because I have never been in a plane and that would be fun!”

Hesitantly, “Well, no, we don’t go on a plane.”

“Well, then how does God take our bodies back to Heaven?”

Not sure how to answer that, I said, “Um, I don’t know exactly how, but God will tell us when He calls us.”

Disbelieving, “Soooo God calls us on the phone?”

“No David, He calls our soul’s orb somehow – it’s a mystery.”

Excitedly, “Oh I get it, like the Mystery of the Lost Dog when the dog wasn’t actually lost, it was just accidentally locked in the neighbor’s garage!”

“Kind of, but we don’t solve the mystery until we are actually back in Heaven. God watches us on Earth and tells our body when to send the orb back to Heaven.”

David said defiantly, “What if our body doesn’t listen? What if we don’t hear Him, then what?”

I let out a loud sigh, this was more difficult than I thought. Especially since I didn’t know - my body hadn’t died yet! So, again, I relied on the Divine guidance.

“Honestly David, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I just have faith.”

His mouth dropped open, “But mom, you know everything!”

“Well honey, I don’t. I am your parent and your counselor, but I do not know everything – only God does. My faith tells me that God is all good, all knowing and all powerful. He sends every person to camp to do a job and make Earth better. When He thinks our job is done, or if our earthly body gets too sick and cannot protect our soul, then He magically calls our orb back home. That’s how come our human body stays on Earth and our soul orb returns to Heaven to be with our Father.”

David’s eyes moved left and right, trying to figure it out in his mind. Then he said, “So your friend’s mother…. her body will stay on earth but her soul will go to Heaven?”

“Yes, and the Holy Bible tells us many stories about Heaven, Earth and God, which gives us faith to believe.”

David sat there wiggling his loose tooth, “Oh, I believe it. I’m just afraid I won’t hear God calling me! You know, how I never hear the dog whistle when you blow it to call the dog into the house.”

I was so proud of him – that was the best comparison ever! “You know, I think God calls us home with something like that whistle! Our soul can hear God calling and go home. Like how dogs can only hear the high pitch whistle and our human ears can’t? Well, I think our orbs can hear God’s voice but our human ears can’t.”

He began looking around the room. “So, can we take our stuff with us?”

I plopped my hands onto my lap, “Well, no. It all stays here for the next campers. We share our stuff with them so they can have fun at Earth Camp too.”

Looking very disappointed, he sighed and said, “Oh, that stinks!”

Hmmmm…how can I explain the mystical, spiritual Heaven in terms he will like? “David, our beautiful, clean orbs like the Heavenly toys much better. The same things you like on Earth are in Heaven too, only way better and cleaner. You get new toys in Heaven.”

He beamed with delight. Then smiling replied, “Oh, that’s okay then. The other kids who come to Earth camp can play with my dirty stuff.”

With a quick leap he trotted off calling the dog to play.

I stood up and realized that I just explained the core of our Christian faith to a five-year old boy. In trying to make David feel better, I actually felt better too. A warm peace came over me. Michelle’s mom is fine. She is in Heaven with God and has a spiritual new body. She has joined the many people she loved on earth who also returned to Heaven. She is now able to see the face of our God. She lives on, just as our Father in Heaven promised us, and we will see her and all of our loved ones again some day.

Until then, I will figure out what jobs I am supposed to be doing in addition to being a parent and counselor to our most beautiful gift from God! After all, we are all sent to Earth camp to make it better for future campers!