The car bumps and jerks all over the road. Dust is kic­king up be­hind as we na­vi­ga­te the sharp cor­ners with steep drop of­fs, ho­ping a rec­re­a­ti­o­nal ve­hic­le do­esn't come flying around the next bend. We are he­a­ding to our camp at the top of the moun­tain. Our own camp! Alt­hough the ride to the top is a bit rough, the camp is an oa­sis. Co­ming from the city in the hot de­sert we re­al­ly can ap­p­re­ci­a­te the clean air and qui­et sur­roun­dings.

This is our se­cond wee­kend in a row at­ten­ding camp. The first was Pa­rents Camp and now we get to bring our five kids up for Fa­mi­ly Camp. As we get to­get­her and sing the first eve­ning, I mar­vel how re­la­xed and hap­py I am. The wee­kend be­fo­re had been so won­der­ful and full of en­cou­ra­ge­ment for my tra­vels that I thought I was “fi­xed” for aw­hi­le. As the week went on I was re­min­ded how weak and faul­ty I re­al­ly am. I won­der as we sing why we can't just live up here, away from our dai­ly tri­als?

It is a ho­li­day wee­kend, po­pu­lar for cam­ping. This Fa­mi­ly Camp has been a bles­sing for us as we do not have the gear to go cam­ping on our own. The kids are kept busy pla­ying with new and old friends in bet­ween dis­cus­si­ons and me­als. We have a whole af­ter­noon to en­joy God's cre­a­ti­ons. I have a nice long vi­sit with a new friend as we take a group of kids hi­king up to the fire to­wer. The man in the fire to­wer is al­wa­ys hap­py to have com­pa­ny and share his pas­si­on for the job with the child­ren. From his of­fi­ce we can see a fire down the hill a ways and watch the he­li­cop­ter drop­ping wa­ter. Anot­her camp had to eva­cu­a­te but the fire was out quick­ly and no one was hurt. On the way down the hill I think about how dif­fi­cult it would be to lose our camp we wor­ked so hard for in this way. I must re­mem­ber this camp is a gift from God and He will pro­tect it as he sees fit.

The boys end the day with a sau­na as I tuck the ba­bies in. On­ce all are as­leep we set­t­le in by the crack­ling fire with cof­fee in hand and vi­sit with the ot­her pa­rents. The group at camp was small but the les­sons we le­arn from the new and old friends are so im­por­tant. Alt­hough I may face the same strug­g­les at home, these days spent in the moun­tain will al­wa­ys stick with me and re­mind me of my ul­ti­ma­te goal in he­a­ven. I am not alo­ne and I can con­ti­nue to tra­vel day by day.