September 25 2011
The two go together like a hand and a glove, and sooner or later when you do the
one the others will show up. I am talking about camping and coons. When the sun
disappears behind the horizon, when the camp fire is lit, and when the snacks are
brought out it won’t be long before beady little eyes will sparkle from the bushes.
And so it was on our most recent camping trip, I spotted the pair of eyes, shone
my flashlight in their direction, and thus was treated to a full view of the plump
raccoon hopping up on our table and quickly grabbing the package of Hershey’s
bars. The critter was clearly determined not to leave empty-handed. “That’s it!”
I thought, “This varmint is not going to mess with the supplies for our smores.”
Jumping up I took chase into the darkness. To my surprise I was gaining on the
striped felon, which made me wonder what in the heck I was going to actually
do when I caught up with him. Luckily for the raccoon it dropped the last of the
loot just before I figured out a concrete plan of action. There would be no lack of
smores for this party of campers.
There seems to be another thing that seems to go with us just considering a
camping trip – a change in the weather. My son suggested that we should go
camping in drought stricken Texas because it would guarantee a wet weather
pattern. It rained so hard on this camping trip that most campers fled for motels
to stay in or just simply packed up and left.
Since this is a pastor’s note I know you are just waiting for the deep spiritual
application that can be learned from the above. First of all, camping is just plain
fun. Secondly, it creates memories and family folklore in abundance. Thirdly,
there is always someone or something that will try to disrupt and steal our
happiness. Sometimes it all depends at how you look at the coon, and whether
or not you can laugh at yourself and at the unpredictabilities of life. I seem to be
better at that when we’re camping, but I am working on incorporating that kind
of attitude into all of my life.
A few times, after the others had already turned in for the night, I ended up
sitting by the campfire alone playing guitar, singing of Him and to him who made
that coon, who holds the wind and the rain in His almighty hands, the One who
had conceived all the beauty and complexity around us, and whose glory was
being declared by the night sky - My heavenly Father, my God. How good it is to
be drawn into His presence and to worship Him. And I don’t have to wait until the
next camping trip to do that, every day invites me and you to do that.
O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our
salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him
with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods,
In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His
also.
The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
Psalm 95:1-6 (NASB)
To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans