A Weekend of Camping

It's been quite a trip this past weekend, camping with the folks from Green Valley Church in Rancho Bernardo. We all (as many could come) travelled up to Hurkey Creek, near Idyllwild. It really was an amazing weekend, full of dirt, fire, food, and plenty of sunshine. The weather was literally perfect: sunny and warm in the day, not too cold at night. We were all reasonably comfortable. I still haven't quite mastered sunscreen at my young age, but maybe someday I will...I wouldn't bet on it. I really hate sunscreen with a passion, and my body usually pays for it. But I'm not planning on aging gracefully anyways, so it all fits!

As far as activities went, there was always something going on. Sports of all kinds were being played, including a volleyball, bocce ball, whiffle ball, and some frisbee tossing. There was even a water balloon toss and potato sack race for the kiddies! The best part about the weekend was the lack of agenda. We did all hang out together, but there was no pressure or expectations on anyone to do anything or pretend to want to do something. Sometime during my Saturday afternoon, I took a look at all that was going on around me and simply thought to myself that this is the sort of natural family that I want to spend my life with. It really is amazing to actually experience the sort of intimacy and natural relationships that have sprung out Green Valley Church. It really is a bunch of people living life together who just decided to go on vacation together for a weekend. So much fun! And so inspiring!

For my own personal experience, I left Friday afternoon with my friend Leanna Jean. We drove up in her little bubble car (the Toyota Yaris). And that thing was definitely packed out. And fortunately for us, we left early enough to avoid all traffic on the way up. We just cruised. We even had time to stop for some lunch, pick up her wine club wine, and get a little wine tasting in ourselves. When we got up there, there were already plenty of people there who had arrived Thursday in order to extend there little vacation. So, the car was unpacked and it was time for some serious hanging out! I threw the frisbee around with Geoff Horn for a good long while. There was a big grass field right in the middle of all Green Valley's campsites, which was awesome! So, while Geoff was throwing the disc, I was running all over the place to try and catch it. Scottie Johnson even jumped in and showed us a thing or two. Dinner was a bit of an ordeal, since boiling water for Mac 'N' Cheese is hard with an old propane grill. But we finally got it to work and had our meal. It was hanging out around campfires and games for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I took off at about 6:45am for a run. I know most people would think me crazy, but it was a good run. It was about eight miles in total and looped around through the hills near the campsite. When I got back, I ate a bunch of food for breakfast, mostly consisting of fruit and fruit-based foodstuffs. Throw a shower in there, and I just had my ideal morning. I had some good time for reading and praying and thinking after that, which is just special in a setting like that. There is something unusually powerful about studying God's Word or hearing from God's Word in such a natural setting as that. I'm tempted to say that it's something inexpicable, but there is an explanation. God has revealed Himself in nature. Romans 1:20 says just that! God has placed His stamp on nature. Why is that a beautiful grove of trees with sunlight gleaming through them is so much more alluring than a downtown highrise? God's power is there, His immensity, His great divine intelligence. We have simply lost the sensitivity to see it. We have forsaken by choice the awareness and sense for such things, and in so doing, have forgotten them completely. But if you are able to spend time in nature with God's Word long enough to forget all the rest of the noise in your life, you will begin to feel it and sense it again.

Anyways...after reading, I spent a good hour just watching a game of Settlers of Catan being played, which was actually nice. I didn't want to move, and this was the perfect option. After a quick lunch, I threw around the frisbee disc some more. Running around the grass field was so much fun! I threw with Geoff Horn, Paul Quinlivan, and David Toney all at different times. I did get in time for some bocce ball as well, which was great, too! Dinner Saturday night was decidedly one of the highlights of the weekend. Scottie Johnson brough one hundred pounds of tri-tip to cook and served everyone with that feast! Combined with some baked beans, salad, and watermelon, I really couldn't have asked for a better camp dinner. The evening was really cool because we had a laidback church service, complete with two acoustic guitars for worship music and a "campfire version" of Doug Kyle's sermon for Sunday morning. Afterwords, there was some more impromptu worship music playing for whoever wanted to hang around and sing/listen. Singing songs late at night with acoustic guitars around a campfire felt a bit stereotypical of camping, but there's a reason it's typical: because it's so much fun! Guitar singing around a campfire is one of those experiences that is just special about camping; wouldn't have been a good trip without it.

The next morning was all just packing up and getting ready to go back home. There was coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, a lot of packing up, and a round of Phase 10 with Leanna and the Quinlivans before we took off back home. There's my weekend in a nutshell. As per usual, the trip felt all too short and we wish we could have stayed for a week or a month or six months. But life beckons us back, and here we are! So, yay for our Monday mornings!