As I write today’s devotional, it is Saturday, June 7th. We are just two days away from finishing our first camping outing, one of the many “work” camping trips we take where we are still 100% “on duty/on call” for everything but our “home address” is just at a camp site. This week has been at Sauder’s Village. In July, it will be at Hickory Acres.
We entered the camping world in 2008, making our first camping trip the almost primitive way. We tent camped in Mackinaw on a site that had electricity. In the night, we had fans. Bathrooms and showers were across the way. We zipped up the tent and slept in our sleeping bags on air mattresses.
That lasted a few years until we purchased a pop-up camper. After a few years doing that, my first hip started going bad and at the end of the summer of 2016, I determined NOT to crawl under a camper to jack it up and set the braces. By 2017, I got a new hip and we got our first hard shell camper, then upgraded to a bigger one at the beginning of the 2024 season.
Now, this is called glamping. You have all the amenities of home, only in a smaller compartment. An HVAC unit keeps you cool or warm, whichever is needed. Refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave, television, double sink, comfortable beds, and your own bathroom and shower make it the most enjoyable rustic adventure you could imagine.
Some of you are thinking, WHY? I was one of you prior to 2008. I was never brought up doing this. Mom’s idea of camping was a Best Western hotel. But, once you are bitten by the camping bug, I think it’s incurable!
There is just something tranquil and serene about camping. I spend the bulk of my time studying but without the distraction of my neighbors mowing their lawn, traffic, or the urge to get up and do something else. I feel more focused. It’s definitely relaxing. And the nights are spent cooking outside, sitting in the lawn chairs under the canopy, maybe enjoying a fire, and just talking. Honestly, you feel like you are living in a different time period. And you’re in an isolated community where everyone is living simply.
One of the things that has always amazed me is the safety you feel in the camping subculture. The first time we camped it was with another couple who had done it for years. Dinner was prepared for that night and left to cook in crockpots OUTSIDE, UNATTENDED, UNGUARDED while we spent the day on Mackinaw Island. I admit – I was completely freaked out by this but when we returned, nothing had moved. I will also admit that I ate that meal with a little fear and in trepidation, wondering if the poison that had been slipped in while we were away would take effect slowly or quickly. Somebody was probably lurking in the bushes to watch us keel over. I know, the imagination got a little carried away. Obviously, we were all just fine but I was still flabbergasted by the level of trust.
Today, we will leave a number of items out during the day OR night and nothing is ever bothered. We do this without thinking about it and all those original fears are gone. I never lock the side panels of the camper. The unwritten rule that is followed is that you NEVER go into someone’s camp site. You don’t cross through their grass. You don’t take a short cut through their “property.” This is honored and respected.
Another thing about campgrounds is “the wave.” Have you ever seen this done by those who ride motorcycles, especially Harleys? One will see another coming a mile away and when you pass each other on the road, there’s that little wave. Campers do the same thing!!! And when they walk or drive by your site on a golf cart, everyone gives that little wave – every time you pass! And it’s not unusual for people to speak to each other.
Again, this is how things used to be in the past. We used to be a more hospitable society. If you want to relive it, just start camping.
You should also be able to find this at church.
It took me a long time to get here but think about what I’ve written above and ask yourself, “Isn’t this what it ought to be like in church today? Shouldn’t there be this level of trust? Shouldn’t we show the same kind of friendliness? Shouldn’t we be able to feel the peace, comfort, and relaxation by being with likeminded people in our little Christian community? Shouldn’t we desire to make each other better? We are a subculture in America and the number constantly dwindles.
I know. We are here to worship God. We are here for God’s Word and to have our “toes stepped on” if necessary. We are here to get our lives in tune with God. We are here to serve one another. But this can all be done in the Christian subculture we call church.
I want to close this devotional with a number of passages of Scripture for us to think about. May your church experience be this way today and may you set out to make it this way.
Psalms 122:1 A Song of degrees of David. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Psalms 133:1 A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Romans 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Romans 15:6-7 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (7) Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
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