Camping with the Men

I went camping this past Saturday with some of the men from church to Hueston Woods. It's located near Miami University of Oxford, Ohio. Some of my thoughts:

I think the last time I went camping was when I was in college, which was a long time ago.

One of the brothers from church has a tent that can sleep 10 people. On Saturday night it slept 6 of us. I was rudely reminded that ground is nothing like the mattress I have at home.

We had a great time Saturday night, playing cards, eating food we'd grilled out, sitting by the little bonfire we'd made. Our campsite was adjacent to the lake, so we could look out over it as darkness fell. The fireflies lit up the sky as if there were thousands of camera flashes going off.

It was beautiful, and I prayed with a few of the men. I really needed to spend some time like this with some of the men from church, forging closer friendships.

It was also great on Sunday morning to go for a quiet walk. I walked a little ways to a hill. I sat down and wrote a little bit in my observation notebook, which I've entitled "Sights and Sounds." I opened my Bible to Psalm 126, and, after reading it, sang a song we sometimes sing at church that is based on it, entitled "Men Who Dream." I belted it out without inhibitions. Then I sang some more songs to God and headed back to the campsite.

We had church with our little group of men. If you've ever seen the movie "Glory," you may recall the scene before the troops went into battle. The men alternatively prayed while the others hummed in the background. We prayed like that. It was moving, emotional, and inspiring. Then Derek, our minister, gave a message about "Salt and Light," based on two of Jesus' famous parables.

Charles, a deaf brother, was one of the brothers who was on the trip. It was so encouraging to see everyone communicating with him, and to see him trying to communicate with others. He really has a great friendship with Davon, which overflowed to some humorous moments.

On Saturday evening, Davon, Charles, and some others went for a little hike. A bit later, Mike decided to sneak up on them. Davon saw and heard Mike coming, but Charles, of course, didn't hear it. He loves Davon so much that at one occasion, he turned to Davon, while Mike is approaching them, and said, "My man, Davon!" as Davon was telling him to hurry up and hide from Mike.

Later as we were trying to sleep in our tent, more humor erupted. Any time Charles would sense that something was going on, he'd turn on his flashlight and shine it around everybody to see who was talking to him.

Of course as I write this I am aware that I'm not fully explaining it so that you can appreciate the humor. This may be a case of "you had to be there."

Nevertheless, it was a great camping trip.