Camp Adventures and Misadventures

There is a beautiful enlarged framed photograph hanging over the printer desk in my home office. It is a picture of Glacier View Ranch, where my family spent several summers long ago when my husband was the Youth director for what was then the Colorado Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. It brings back many memories.

There is the nice little cabin where our family stayed, the campers’ cabins, the kitchen and dining room, the medical building, the gym, staff housing, and the lake—all with those majestic snow-covered mountains in the background.

During our second summer there, the person who had been in charge of the kitchen moved away. I took her place, as it was a skill I had learned at our previous camp in the mountains of north Georgia. Planning and cooking for a hundred hungry campers, plus staff, is not the same as cooking for a family, and it takes many hours every day.

One day, during a break between meals, the cooks decided to go on a horseback ride. The peaceful nag that was chosen for me—a total amateur—ambled along until I decided to go one more round. He disagreed and instead headed for the barn full speed ahead, with me hanging on for dear life! We both survived but parted, never to team up again! Another day I thought how peaceful a canoe ride would be, so after the campers had finished in the dining room, I launched a canoe and paddled away. The fact that I was a total amateur did not stop me.

The main feature of the lake is a very large, pointed rock some distance from the shore. All was going well until I realized that no matter how I paddled, I kept circling the rock. It seemed to be like a magnet. I do not know how long I struggled, but I was finally able to push against it with the paddle and make my way back to dry land! No more canoe rides, either! I do not understand the pull the rock had on the canoe.

Perhaps it had to do with currents in the lake.

As I think about that pull, I am reminded of another Rock, Jesus, the Rock of Ages. Just as the rock in the lake drew the canoe, those who do not resist will be drawn to Him.

Instead of pushing away or drifting, let us put our paddles aside and cling to the Rock, Christ Jesus, our Savior and our Friend!

Mary Jane Graves