At the Table

It is a beautiful day here.  The weather has dried up and turned nice even though it is still cold at night.  The lilac bushes are in bloom, and there a butterflies everywhere.  Even though the water of the lake is icy, all the younger folks around here have taken at least one dip.  They come out freezing but exhilarated, fully alive.

  They delivered our new bed today, and it is all set up.  I expect to sleep soundly tonight, although sleeping soundly has not been a problem.  The room is dark and the air is so cool that I have much more trouble getting out of bed than I do at home.  I feel lazy.

  I have spent some of my evenings reading this book…

I highly recommend it.  It is a wonderful and practical explanation of Jesus’ teachings and the life He is calling us to live.

  Tonight this passage struck me.

  “Once when Jesus is teaching, Mary and her other sons come to the door of the home in which Jesus is teaching.  They are looking for him.  They send someone inside and interrupt his teaching.  Some of those in the home inform Jesus that his family wants him.  Jesus asks a stunning question: ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’  Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!’  The new society Jesus creates around the Jesus Creed is like a family—they share their lives with one another, they care for one another, and they do all of this around Jesus.”

  This describes what I find here at Camp of the Woods.   Since I’ve been here we’ve already had groups come and go; our group from Tennessee, several from a church in Minnesota.  Right now we have ladies from Georgia and Indiana, and a guy from Michigan.

  We all sit down to the table together.  Meals here right now are long and leisurely.  There is time to talk, time to tell a good story, time to share our lives.  But it is at the table that we are family, brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is at the table we engage in communion.  It is at the table we are one.

  It is quite an adjustment for me.   I am too often in a hurry to move on to the next thing.  I get antsy.  I’m learning to be more patient, to take time to be still, to take time to listen.  

  Right now, there is time.  And it is a blessing.

 

The Adventure Begins

 The routine has become familiar.

We spent last night with Phil's dad as we travel the first leg of our trip to Bloomington.  We had a very nice visit with Roger who is doing much better since he was at our house for Christmas.  He had surgery shortly after returning home and his health has greatly improved.  We also visited with Phil's cousin Connie who is staying the summer in Bloomington and keeping Roger company.  It is a good arrangement for both of them.

We left the house at 5:30 a.m.  and traveled nearly twelve hours to arrive at International Falls, MN.  We ate lunch at the Culver's in Chippewa Falls, WI.  We had a lot of rain in Wisconsin, but the weather cleared as we got closer to our destination for the evening.  We checked into the Hilltop Hotel, and then shared the walleye dinner at the Chocolate Moose Restaurant.

The best part of the day was listening to Donald Miller read his book,  A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  I had just attended the Storyline Conference in Nashville which grew out of this book.  I had read the book a couple of years ago, but Phil had never read it.  The way Miller develops the analogy of living life like you would write a good story is so powerful.  It lead to lots of good conversation, and a celebration of the wonderful story that we see unfolding in our lives at this time.

It was a long day, but a good one.  Tomorrow we hope to be up and on the road early in hopes of seeing some wildlife on our three hour drive into camp.

Canada, here we come!

Shouting Hallelujah!

This past week while I was at COTW my daily Bible reading took me to the last few Psalms.  They are joyful exaltations of God and His majesty.  They begin with “Hallelujah.”  It made me think of the song “Shout to the Lord.”  And that made me think, “When have I ever shouted to the Lord?”

I felt like I was supposed to…even though it seemed silly.

So on a glorious morning, I went out to the lake before breakfast.  I climbed the high dive and looked out over the lake, the sky, the trees…the beauty of God’s creation, and I shouted “Hallelujah!”

I still felt a little silly, so I squelched the urge to shout, “The Lord, He is God!”

John and Fawnda were on their porch and saw me on the high dive.  They heard the shout but told each other that it couldn’t have been Pam shouting.  Must have been someone on the shore. 

See…they didn’t think I would shout either.

Friday morning I was determined to have some company so I had all the kids line up on the beach and we shouted “Hallelujah!”  And we shouted, “The Lord, He is God!”  It felt good.  It felt right.  It was exhilarating.

From now on I’m shouting more often.  Maybe people will get to expect it from me.

So what about you?  Feel like shouting? 

Just do it!

Camp: Post #2

Home Sweet Away from Home

Our group of Jr. Teen Campers

I’ve been hanging out at Lakeview this week and it’s been lots of fun.  My speaking duties have ended although I may be helping John Cofield with the morning hikes.  That will be something new for me.

This week the campers were very nice, very good kids.  I think we were all able to enjoy them.  Next week things will change because we will have junior campers.  We will also have the biggest group yet…37 boys and 24 girls.  We are a little short staffed, but it seems pretty manageable.  Will and Micah will not be counseling this week, so they get a little break and will have other duties. 

It’s so enjoyable to be here with so many good people.  Some of the other adult staffers have their whole family here.  They have some wonderful kids.  I’ll have to tell you about them later.

For more info on the week, I’ll post some random pictures on Facebook.

The weekend is for resting, so I’ll be taking it easy here by the lake.  Wish you were here…all of you!

Camp Day 1

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The view from Lakeview tonight at 11 pm

I arrived at COTW at 12:30 am and hit the sack in Lakeview.  I haven't stayed here before and it is very nice.  The pictures Will has been taking come mostly from the porch of this cabin.

We awoke to rain but by the time campers arrived at 10:30 it had stopped.  The weather here changes by the hour.  This week is pre-teen week and there are 45-50 campers.  We've had a full day of activities but it has been hot and muggy (as well as buggy).

I am assigned duties in the kitchen before or after every meal.  I was able to sit out this afternoon and splash my feet in the lake while the campers swam.  We have the blessing of three lifeguards this week.  It makes the sunny days so enjoyable for the kids to be able to swim.  Next week I don't think we will have lifeguards so I don't know what the plan will be.

I will be doing some of the speaking in chapel this week.  Pray for me to be able to speak plainly to these  campers.  Tonight I spoke about the fact that all we who are Christians are witnesses, we are the evidence, that God exists, and that He will do all He promises.  I asked them to listen to the testimonies of their counselors and other adults here.  May they believe the evidence.

The view at 9 pm

The view at 8 pm after thunderstorm

The view at 10 pm