Beyond comfort

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is July 5th, 2023. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a summer camp for kids with special needs.

Life changed for the better for a family in Minnesota who found the key ingredient in one of those camps: acceptance.

Here’s WORLD magazine senior writer Sharon Dierberger.

AUDIO: [Camp sounds]

SHARON DIERBERGER, REPORTER: Mason Clement is carefully buckling the zip-line safety harness for an excited young woman in a wheelchair. His dark hair falls forward as he double-checks connections. He’s making sure she’s comfortable and secure before the attached lines hoist her up—then send her whooshing through the air, across the Root River.

AUDIO: [Camp sounds]

This is Mason’s first year as a staff assistant at Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch. Working at camp is a rite of passage for many teens. But for Mason, it’s something of a miracle.

AUDIO: [Camp sounds]

In 2006, Mason’s mom Pixie Clement thought she was done raising children. She was 44 years old, divorced, with four grown children.

And then she heard about Mason—a special needs infant she couldn’t resist.

PIXIE CLEMENT: He was definitely my gift from God. We became a family when he was 22 months old. He was born to my cousin—didn’t know who his biological father was and nobody wanted him.

Pixie immediately fell in love with her new son. But it took a while to figure out how to help him and what was actually wrong with him.

PIXIE: He didn’t speak until he was 3. I taught him sign language. He’s struggled over the years. A lot of violent outbursts. But I had worked with troubled children, children with challenges, so I just worked with him.

Mason was diagnosed with autism when he was almost 10.

PIXIE: And, wow, we went through a lot of stuff because children with autism—what works today might not work tomorrow. God’ll teach you patience!

Although they had a diagnosis, they didn’t let it define Mason.

PIXIE: We never ever let autism be a crutch. We never let autism be an excuse for bad behavior for bad choices.

By then, Pixie had remarried—a man named Jamie who also loved Mason. She and Jamie tried all kinds of things to help Mason. But Mason still struggled. Especially if he got separated from Pixie.

PIXIE: He couldn’t leave me. If I was out of his sight if we were in public, he would bolt, screaming my name. And a couple instances were pretty scary. So I constantly had to be holding him and reassuring him. We’d go into public, into a restaurant, and he’d become very afraid.

The turning point came when Ironwood Springs Christian Ranch invited Pixie and Mason to come to camp on a scholarship.

AUDIO: [Camp sounds]

Bob Bardwell launched Ironwood Springs back in 1976— several years after a terrible accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. He sensed God urging him to create a camp for the physically and cognitively disabled.

His goal? To honor God and love people—by helping others embrace their disability and try new things—things outside their comfort zone. And he hoped they’d bring a positive, can-do attitude back home.

BARDWELL: And that’s what we emphasize all week. You know, we’re not in charge of anybody’s life, but we try to provide an atmosphere here—in our words, our music, our conversation, that’s encouraging and uplifting. That’ll help them realize they’re loved by God. They’re a special person. And maybe for the first time they realize there’s a purpose for me—with my disability.

Mason fell in love with the camp. He tried every activity—and couldn’t get enough of zip-lining. And the biggest surprise? When camp counselors asked parents to come to a meeting in another room—without their kids, Mason happily agreed.

PIXIE: He said to me, ‘I’m ok with that. Because being here is like being home. I can just be myself.’ I stood right there, and I just praised God and I hugged my son. And after we were all done and we came back together he was just so happy. There was not a fear, and I was just like—wow.

That moment was life-changing for Mason.

PIXIE: For him to understand that it’s okay to be different. And not everybody makes fun of you because you’re different.

Pixie says Mason really started to understand that God made him the way He made him for a reason, and that God will use him for His purposes.

And the boy who didn’t like to talk much with others—even his grandparents— wouldn’t stop talking about Ironwood—with everyone. He talked about riding the camel, sailing on the zip-line, meeting Bob in the wheelchair. Mason was exuberant. And he wanted to go back.

AUDIO: [Camp sounds]

So they did. Ironwood became like a second home. In the fall they returned to carve pumpkins and ride horses. In the winter they went snow tubing.

Today, Mason is 17. He’s thrilled to be working at Ironwood Springs—helping give other kids the same opportunity that changed his life.

MASON: You know, I fully understand—I was in their shoes once —very skeptical. Unsure. Not sure if anyone accepted me. But I can promise you, everyone here is very welcoming. And you’ll get over that pretty soon.

AUDIO: [Camp sounds]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sharon Dierberger, in Stewartville, Minnesota.

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