Family testifies to God “doing this thing in our life”
- bchfamily
- Apr 1
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 4
Sam is graduating. He is nervous about going home, but he has worked hard to get to this day. Camp life has become the center of his life. It's been more than two years since he came to Cameron Boys Camp and he has learned a lot. He makes better decisions. He treats people with respect. He is self-aware and takes a breath before reacting. There will be an adjustment going home, but Sam and his family are ready.
"I would see other boys graduate and leave Camp," Sam recalls. "I would wonder if they were ready. It becomes a step of faith for us all."
His family has worked hard to get to this day, too. They sit up front around one of the Chuckwagon tables. Sam locks eyes with mom, Courtney. Dad Josh and brother Charlie are there. Courtney sits with tears running down her cheeks. There are tears in Sam's eyes.
"I could see she was proud of me," Sam says. "My family was proud of me. I had done something worthwhile. I had finished. I was proud of me."
Camp not only changed Sam's life, it changed his family's life. Courtney and Josh saw hardship at home turn to a bright future. They learned to process issues and problem-solve proactively with Sam.
"Josh and I decided early to commit to the Camp process," Courtney says. "Our ways weren't working. We had done everything we knew to do, and we were losing Sam..."
Their home was in turmoil. Sam's behavior was over the top, mostly negative and combative. Any conversation with Sam usually ended in strife.
"I was a wreck," Sam recalls. "I didn't know how to cope with the world. I thought everyone else was the problem and it was getting worse."
Thirteen-year-old Sam was isolating himself from friends and family. There was more and more unpredictable behavior. He was angry. He never laughed, unless it was at the expense of someone else.
"I was living in a dark place," he confesses. "It was all about me. Nobody else."
Sam's parents, Courtney and Josh, tried everything—counseling and therapy, switching schools three times, changing churches. Instead of it helping, feelings of hopelessness settled over their home and in their lives. They needed help.
"We all reached a point," Courtney remembers, "where we were exhausted and felt like we had failed. We felt there was nowhere else to turn, and then there was Cameron Boys Camp."
Courtney called and spoke with Camp's Case Manager Supervisor Kristin Johnson. She was encouraging. Kristin assured her that Sam was like other boys who came to Camp. She and Josh felt a twinge of hope.
"The second we drove on the property, I could feel the Holy Spirit," Courtney says. "There was a peace. You could see it in Sam's face. He loves the outdoors and the wilderness. He was excited about the possibility. We all were."
After the newness of living at Camp wore off, Courtney received a letter from Sam. He was unsure Camp was where he needed to be after all.
"Sam wrote that he didn't belong at Camp," she recalled. "He wrote that the boys come 'from some tough situations' and had 'real problems.' Josh and I laughed. Sam was coming against himself. He was clueless to the depth of his problems."
There was no place now for fourteen-year-old Sam to hide in the woods, living outside with the boys in his group and his Chiefs twenty-four seven. A camper quickly learns their problems are not special. There are other boys who have big problems and the Chiefs have pretty much seen and heard it all.
"When you think your problem is different than anyone else's, it slows down your progress," Sam asserts. "You have to realize the problem is a heart problem. You have to stop looking at everyone else's problems and start dealing with your problem. You have to want to change."
Sam began seeing that change. He was using his hands. Focusing on his tasks and not waiting for others to do for him. He had experienced nothing else like it. It was helping him in ways he didn't even know he needed.
Carolina Rowing Center in Greensboro, and pursuing an online associate degree in finance and accounting.
Sam uses the skills he learned at Camp every day: working three part-time jobs, being on a row team at the North
Carolina Rowing Center in Greensboro, and pursuing an online associate degree in finance and accounting.
Sam uses the skills he learned at Camp every day: working three part-time jobs, being on a row team at the North
Carolina Rowing Center in Greensboro, and pursuing an online associate degree in finance and accounting.
"Every action at Camp is for a purpose," Josh says. "From their group work to the more simple task of making their beds each morning, routine and success is created from the moment the boys wake up."
Sam could feel he was turning a corner when he stepped forward and provided leadership in his group. The boys began to look up to him and talk with him. They began to trust him. It was no longer about him. He began to care about them.
"When Sam was home for visits, there was laughter again," Courtney says. "The family had lived so uptight and angry before and now everyone could breathe. The Lord was doing this thing in our life."
Josh felt the change in his own life. He no longer was focused on the family's heartache. He felt his heart soften toward his son and he remembered Sam as the son he "loved and adored."
Graduation was December 21, 2023. More than a year later, Sam can still taste Mom Lisa's "best thing on the planet," Saturday morning biscuits and sausage gravy. He remembers his fellow campers, but it is what he learned from the Chiefs that he carries with him everyday.
"My Chiefs meant so much," Sam says. "I struggled with authority and they helped. There were times when I was a handful. Terrible even. They stuck with me. That's what it is all about. They are the best men on earth."
Written by Jim Edminson, Editor of Charity & Children