Good morning campers <3

Well, we handed out candy to a bazillion little kids who braved the cold and yes, snow, to trick or treat last night. 

This morning I am trying to get ready for work whilst packing my bag and loading the car with things for the women’s retreat and I am reminded of the one and only time my parents sent me to camp as a child. 

I tell often of how my summers were spent in the back seat of their car as they pulled an Airstream trailer all over the country. But when I was in Junior High I begged them to go to Girl Scout Camp and they made it happen. 

The camp was located on the “Kentucky Wilderness Trails” in the Daniel Boone National Forest. 

Have mercy…just typing that brings back memories. 

In the 14 days I was there I learned to swim the right way, hiked trails that made me wonder if I would ever see civilization again. I was bit up by mosquitos, sunburned, homesick, up late…up early…showered in my swim suit even though we were told not to, swam in mountain streams with rocks and snakes and a rope that you swung from and then jumped in. I made the best friends ever who I promptly lost contact with by October and had the time of my life. 

I am not what you would call out-doorsy, but being immersed in that environment forced me to adapt to it and as I make my stack of “camp gear” for this weekend, I can’t help but smile deep and be grateful for the way my parents let me do that. It was so far out of my comfort zone and theirs as well, but it is a treasured experience for me. 

It is amazing what humans can learn to adapt to. That camp became my home as day after day my tent mates and I navigated meals and free time in between all the scheduled and optional activities. Camp life became our normal and it was like that was all we knew anymore. Until our parents came and gathered our tired, stinky twelve-year old bodies into their cars and took us home. 

It’s good that we can fit in at times. We need to do this in order to not only survive, but also to be salt and light in this world.

But God urges us always throughout Scripture to remember…this is not our home. This is not our final place of rest and eternity. We get reminded of this when someone leaves us before what we consider to be a right amount of time. All of a sudden someone our age or younger is gone and the reality of this temporal life strikes us hard. 

We get comfortable with the way things are and the people we have around us and we can begin to conform to this world as the ultimate goal. 

But it is not. 

We are only here for a short time. 

So let’s enjoy and learn and love and live like we are only passing through. 

Let’s ask God to help us live well in this temporary tent as we look forward to going home <3

After I wrote this post this morning and wondered why I was led to this topic, I flipped the desk calendar over and found these words…

I think God has a word for us this weekend…dwell but don’t conform, my friends.

Journey Onward <3