WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND AT CAMP MARANATHA

Yesterday the day dawned clear and bright. The storm had moved on and the sun shined uninterrupted on a shimmering world where every branch and twig was etched in white and the camp sat quietly under a heavy blanket of snow. It was absolutely beautiful, and camera in hand I set out for a walk. In places the snow came up to my knees.

Bobcat track!

LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW! LET IT SNOW!

As my fingers dance over the keyboard it is snowing to beat the band outside. Every branch and twig is etched in white and theheavy silence that always accompanies a snow storm has settled over the campground and the surrounding woods.

Keith has been busy plowing for much of the morning. The Dodge does a great job pushing around the snow, and all of us who live here at the camp are grateful for the great job Keith does plowing.

You can just barely see the truck over the berm at the end of the parking lot.

What a beautiful day!

FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON- 12/15/2008

IT'S A RAINY DAY HERE AT CAMP

It's not raining hard though- just a nice steady drizzle. On the walk down to the office this morning I was reminded of how much I enjoy walking in the rain. The only thing better is walking in the snow. I'm sure that will be coming soon enough as well.

"As the rain and snow

come down from heaven,

And do not return to it

Without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower

and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

And achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Isaiah 55:10-11

JAMES 5:7-8

"Be patient, then brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near."

I used to work with a guy who would routinely arrive at work 15 minutes late. He did as little as he could get away with and what little he did he didn't do particularly well. When we would talk about work he seemed bored but when discussion turned to his plans for his days off he became more animated. He would spend his shift dodging supervisors, playing games on the computer, trying to look busy, and making plans for the weekend. He was all weekend, no workday, and a horrible coworker.

As Christians we have a lot to be excited about. I have to confess, with a little shame, that until about a year ago I was too in love with this world to truly look forward to Christ's return, but today I find myself continuously longing for it with a fervor and an anticipation that I have never felt previously in my walk with Christ. Sure, there were moments, hours and even days before when I yearned for Christ's return, but today it is a continuous state. I live and walk in it. I want the clouds to part and to see Christ in all His glory. I want to see every knee bow. I want to walk through the untrammeled perfection of a new Earth. I want to sing God's praises in the new Jerusalem. I want to see the place that Christ has prepared for me, and to live in unbroken relationship with God, man, creation and time. My mind is not capable of perceiving how wonderful it will be, but my spirit directs my heart towards it as surely as a compass needle must point north. This is the weekend I am looking forward to...

...but today is not the weekend (O' that Christ would prove me wrong!).

There is work to do, and I catch myself at times possessing a similar attitude towards Christ's return, and the wedding that will follow, as my coworker held for the weekend. It tempts me to resent and neglect the present. For those who have passed from death to life we are already living in eternity. Not only have I been forgiven my sins, but I have been given Christ's reward. I am a new creation today and always. These are the last days when we can choose to deny ourselves. These are the last days when we can say "no" to sin and truly offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice- forgoing things we desire for something of much greater worth.Just like the farmer in James 5 we have a day to look forward to, but the watchwords for today are "wait," "be patient," and "stand firm." Don't be a horrible coworker. Delight in today, and in the labor of your hands. Enjoy the challenges and pleasures that God has set before you. Give God what he wants to take and take from God what he wants to give. Watch a football game, get together with friends, go for a walk with your kids, and continue steadfastly in the work of the Lord and the study of His word. These days matter.

The camp’s compost pile, which was built at the suggestion of my wife, Sarah, sits atop the rim of the gully at the end of a short path behind the office. I carved the path out of the surrounding vegetation with the help of a weed-whacker and some pruning shears two years ago, but the regular foot traffic of the kitchen staff coming and going from the spot has been enough to maintain it ever since. The compost pile, which sits in a small clearing at the end of the path, is kind of a crude affair, just four pallets standing on end in a rough square and reinforced with chicken wire. A sheet of plywood rests over the whole, presumably to keep raccoons out. The flimsy defenses of the chicken wire and plywood don’t actually do much to keep animals out though, and sometimes I jokingly refer to it as our “wildlife feeding station.”

Occasionally, I take a break from the office and walk down there to rotate the compost with an old pitchfork. The top layer, which represents the most recent deposits, resembles a ghoulish salad bar with a multicolored mélange of strawberries, carrots, cantaloupe, egg shells, lettuce, squash, and coffee grounds all piled in a heap. It looks moldy and wilted, and it smells rotten, but as the pitchfork flips and mixes the pile, the under-layers, still kind of moist but uniformly brown with an earthy aroma, are revealed. I think it is almost magical that all that rejected produce and trash can be transformed into a rich useful soil.

I was reminded of the compost pile recently while reading II Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Some of our guests arrived at Camp Maranatha this past summer dead in their sins, and left the grounds alive in Christ. This has caused me to think of Camp Maranatha as a compost pile of sorts wherein an amazing transformation takes place in the lives of our guests. Although Camp Maranatha is situated in an idyllic spot with wonderful facilities, what is remarkable about camp is not the venue or the buildings. Just like the compost pile, it is the transformation that occurs here that makes it remarkable. For me, the fact that these grounds are dedicated to the work of the Lord lends beauty to the surroundings, and it is exciting to know that some of our guests are transformed during their time here into new creations--a rich useful soil from which good works will bloom, bear fruit, and bring joy to the heart of our Lord.

We can’t say that it is Camp Maranatha that makes this possible, because God doesn’t need anyone or any place to accomplish His will, but it is our great joy to be used in this way. Thanks be to God!!!

Recently, I was walking through the parking lot on my way to the camp’s office when I saw a woman standing at the far end of the ball field taking a picture. At first, it wasn’t clear to me what she was photographing. Her camera was aimed in the general direction of the maintenance yard, but when I looked in that direction I didn’t see anything worthy of being photographed- just a line of shaggy cypresses that flank the driveway and the entrance to the maintenance yard. I looked back at the woman who was still busily taking pictures. Convinced I had missed something I scanned the area a second time, but still saw nothing. As the woman walked off the field I asked her what she had been photographing. She pointed toward the peak of Mt Tahquitz in the background, and said, “Aren’t the mountains incredible?”

Isn’t it amazing how easily we can become habituated to truly remarkable things? To me, a guy who lives and works in the mountains, the view of Mt Tahquitz had become an unremarkable backdrop, but to this woman it was “incredible.” It never even occurred to me that she might be photographing Tahquitz even though it dominates the horizon. We were looking at the same scene, but we saw things very differently.

This reminds me of Matthew 13:54-58, which reads as follows; “When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Jesus was not common (anything but!), but to His neighbors He seemed common. To them He was just the son of a carpenter…a fellow who had grown up among them…from a humble and unremarkable family. Unbelievably, His neighbors, and even His family (John 7:5), didn’t recognize Him for who He was, and these were the people who would have known Him best. They didn’t believe Him. They thought of Him as common. They must have thought all the hoopla surrounding Jesus was very strange. I can imagine them saying, “It’s just Jesus!” And when confronted with Jesus’ wisdom and mighty works they couldn’t reconcile these experiences with the Jesus that they thought they knew. Whereas others saw Jesus as something wonderful, new and remarkable His neighbors and family remained skeptical. And because of their lack of faith, Jesus did not do many mighty works there.
I’m aware that many of you, like me, grew up in the church, and, in a very real sense, we grew up around Jesus. We went over to his house on Sundays. We attended Sunday school and VBS. We have sat through countless hours of sermons, prayer meetings, and Bible studies. Yet, for some, the years have dulled their passion, and have caused them to question the efficacy of prayer. For some, their walk has been reduced to a ritualistic pattern of dates, times and obligations. There is a warning here for any of us who have begun to view the church or our relationship with Christ as unremarkable…a common thing. If this sentiment could be true of people who met Jesus in the flesh, heard Him speak and witnessed His miracles it can certainly be true of us today. In scripture, Jesus performs some miracles as an aid to faith, and certainly His victory over death is the best example of that truth. In many other instances though He performs His mighty works in response to faith, “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:23b) If our hearts are essentially the same before Christ as His neighbors in Matthew 13, than it follows that He will not do many mighty works in us either, and that not from want of grace or power in Christ, but rather from a lack of faith in us. Many of us want to see Christ move in powerful ways, but in our heart of hearts we simply don’t believe that He will. We have been habituated over the discouraging years to regard Christ’s statement, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God,” as an inspiring thought rather than a truth to live by. Over time, if we’re not careful, our relationship with Christ can become something we take for granted…something we’ve come to view as common and unremarkable. As a result, we may cease to believe in our heart of hearts that uncommon things can truly happen.