S'mores galore

I think tent camping has a biblical basis. After all, didn't the Israelites spend forty years dwelling in tents in the wilderness? Unlike the Israelites, though, the 48 folks who camped together at Big South Fork last weekend didn't have a pillar of cloud by day or a pillar of fire by night to guide us, but we certainly had plenty of other reminders of God's presence in our midst. 

What a glorious weekend! The colors of the leaves were more vivid than I can ever recall on our previous annual camping trips to Big South Fork. The weather was much warmer than we had experienced in the past - I had never worn sandals and shorts while delivering my mini-sermon at the Saturday evening campfire before - but the evenings were comfortably cool and well-suited for a slumber in a sleeping bag. The daytime skies were a brilliant blue, and the evening skies were studded with more stars than we could ever count. The twelve families who gathered at the group campground at Bandy Creek - Stewarts, Atkinses, Fousts, Kennons, Walshes, Hartzells, Robersons, Cateses, Swineys, Gipsons, Pollards, and Robertsons - made a fresh batch of memories this past weekend, served up with a heaping helping of laughter. 

We took two group hikes during the weekend - a Saturday afternoon trek along the Big South Fork River to the O&W Railroad Bridge (4.6 miles round-trip) and a Sunday afternoon excursion along the Twin Arches Loop Trail (2.8 miles). During the rest of our time together, clusters of adults gathered around picnic tables and campfires, enjoying the kind of extended conversations that we rarely have time for during our busy days at home. Clumps of children shuffled through the woods on the lookout for the black bear that had been spotted in the campground earlier in the week. Some teenagers played football in the field, while others played cards in the pavilion. And we ate - a lot. Our community meal on Saturday evening - featuring four batches of chili and the Pollards' delicious cornbread, among many other dishes - was delicious as usual, but we were still able to consume large quantities of S'mores after the evening devotion around the campfire.

Camping at Big South Fork is like going back to a simpler time, a time when grownups passed the evening telling stories on the front porch while their children chased fireflies in the yard. Plenty of stories were shared this past weekend at Bandy Creek - stories that our children will undoubtedly recount to their own offspring in years to come. And while there were many outbursts of laughter among our children this past weekend, the adults laughed louder and longer. In fact, we often laughed until we cried. A cheerful heart really is good medicine (Proverbs 17:22).