A Letter from Camp

It was not your conventional letter home from camp. It was an email, not to my family  at home, but to members of my church home. Sitting on the couch in the Micah Room at Camp Calumet, I hit send. I took a deep breath and thanked God for His love, His grace, and that I could lay this in His hands. I felt peace.

An unexpected peace. I expected OCD-induced anxiety over how people would respond. I expected fear surrounding the possibility of receiving hateful replies. Being at Calumet, a place of faithful love and acceptance, made all the difference. Seeing the "This Changes Everything" Calumet t-shirts in my wanderings through Camp served as a constant reminder of how God's gifts of grace and love and hope change everything for all of us; that Jesus changed and changes everything for all of us ...  that we are all enough, all loved, all cherished for exactly who we are because of God's love and grace and what Christ has done for us. 

Sending this letter while nestled in this soul-nourishing place changed everything.

And then my phone came alive with responses. I was unsure what to expect when I opened the emails and messages as they trickled in. The beautiful words that flowed from each response left me in a deluge of tears. 

I want to thank those who received the email announcing and celebrating my second child's ownership of who she is as a transgender woman and responded with such thoughtful, loving, supportive words. It is wonderful that so many celebrate with us that this precious child of God is now living her truth as God intended her to. I couldn't have put it better than a response form an amazing couple who are a glorious part of the Body of Christ...

The love of Jesus takes us all beyond male, female, beyond any and all genders..."Zeph, Child of God, Jesus loves you and so do I. Amen! Alleluia!"