Ryan and I took a group of high school kids from the inner city to Morning Star Ranch, about an hour north of Wichita. This camp is a ministry of World Impact. The camp has a policy that does not allow children/youth to attend camp if they have head lice. When getting ready to leave, having done our duty of dropping off the kids, we were approached by the camp director to take two of the girls back to Wichita because of head lice. The girls were not in the group we drove, but from a church plant here in Wichita. I drove them back to their homes and was saddened by their disappointment in missing out on camp. One of the girls said, almost in tears, "I was SO looking forward to just being away from home where it is quiet."
This incident made me start thinking. I have five years of experience in ministry among the urban poor, but I have never dealt with this! All my experience is among the African American community. That is pretty cross-cultural for me. But, what about the cultural among the poor white community? I didn't grow up in that culture either. I never had to buy my own head lice treatment kit from the store like these girls will most likely do. I never had to be checked for head lice before attending a group event. They may have the same skin color as me, but we are worlds apart. And, they still need the love of Jesus.
Pray for Morgan and Ashley. I am selfishly praying that they will be allowed to treat the lice and come back in three weeks to Junior High camp (even though they are a little bit too old).
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