WE ARE ONE IN THE SPIRIT
By Gil Crosby, Moderator – Illinois-Wisconsin District
"Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. Here grow the wall flower and the violet. The squirrel will come and sit upon your knee, the birds will wake you in the morning.." John Muir
Camping season arrives in Illinois-Wisconsin during the summer months bringing running, hollering children to camps like Emmanuel and Emmaus. Children who have been freed from the bonds of boredom when school recesses for the warm months of the year. Children hiking, swimming, making new friends and unbeknownst to them. Learning. The camping experience remains with us throughout our lives as we remember the campfires, the singing, the laughter in the dining hall and wondering how many mosquitoes were in the bunk house.
When reminiscing camping experiences we forget the rainy days and the mud or the cold nights or no TV. Camping evokes good memories even though all was not the best of conditions all the time. The good rises above all else and stays in our memory banks for a long time.
I loved camping and spent 15 years in Scouting, from Tenderfoot to Scoutmaster, just to be a part of the outdoor experience. Cooking our own food even though it may have been seasoned with wood ashes from the fire. Hiking in the woods with critters all around us. Swimming in the lake that sometimes we thought had just melted from the winter. Sitting around a campfire listening to stories of Indians, woodsmen and of God's nature. All evoke memories that are positive and good.
Our Savior Jesus must have been a camper. Spending the night along the banks of the Sea of Galilee, hiking between the cities and towns of Judea, sleeping aboard a fishing boat with his friends, sitting on a mountainside telling stories of his Kingdom and parables about life's realities. Jesus taught from and about the outdoors, farmers, shepherds, trees, the sea, and fishing.
God's great outdoors is ours for the taking. To enjoy and contemplate its beauty. I wonder why so many of us dwell on the negative and worst side of creation instead of the beauty. Why do people tend to see what they don't like about each other instead of what they could like? Why can we always see why something won't work instead of figuring out how to make it work? Why is it easier to complain rather than affirm goodness?
Jesus said in Mark 5, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you."
"Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. Here grow the wall flower and the violet. The squirrel will come and sit upon your knee, the birds will wake you in the morning.." John MuirCamping season arrives in Illinois-Wisconsin during the summer months bringing running, hollering children to camps like Emmanuel and Emmaus. Children who have been freed from the bonds of boredom when school recesses for the warm months of the year. Children hiking, swimming, making new friends and unbeknownst to them. Learning. The camping experience remains with us throughout our lives as we remember the campfires, the singing, the laughter in the dining hall and wondering how many mosquitoes were in the bunk house.
When reminiscing camping experiences we forget the rainy days and the mud or the cold nights or no TV. Camping evokes good memories even though all was not the best of conditions all the time. The good rises above all else and stays in our memory banks for a long time.
I loved camping and spent 15 years in Scouting, from Tenderfoot to Scoutmaster, just to be a part of the outdoor experience. Cooking our own food even though it may have been seasoned with wood ashes from the fire. Hiking in the woods with critters all around us. Swimming in the lake that sometimes we thought had just melted from the winter. Sitting around a campfire listening to stories of Indians, woodsmen and of God's nature. All evoke memories that are positive and good.
Our Savior Jesus must have been a camper. Spending the night along the banks of the Sea of Galilee, hiking between the cities and towns of Judea, sleeping aboard a fishing boat with his friends, sitting on a mountainside telling stories of his Kingdom and parables about life's realities. Jesus taught from and about the outdoors, farmers, shepherds, trees, the sea, and fishing.
God's great outdoors is ours for the taking. To enjoy and contemplate its beauty. I wonder why so many of us dwell on the negative and worst side of creation instead of the beauty. Why do people tend to see what they don't like about each other instead of what they could like? Why can we always see why something won't work instead of figuring out how to make it work? Why is it easier to complain rather than affirm goodness?
Jesus said in Mark 5, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you."
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