I just got back from our first camping trip. Joshua, Caleb and I went to Gathland Park where the Appalachian Trail cuts it in half. Kimberly drove us and dropped us off. The first thing I asked them before we hit the trail was do you have to go to the bathroom (since there was a bathroom right there!) they both said no, but guess what they said about five minutes into our hike?

I packed the boy’s pack, here’s what was in the bag:
A sleeping bag,
A nalgene bottle full of water,
A metal cup,
A MRE meal,
A whistle, small knife, and a flashlight (all connected together)
I had everything else.

When I put the pack on both of them, they just about fell over backwards. I really didn’t think it would be that heavy for them. So not only did they want to stop and go to the bathroom, they also just wanted to stop altogether. We made it maybe a quarter of a mile, and stopped at a designated camping area.

We set up camp, gathered fire wood, and cooked dinner (Chili Mac). I bought one of those freeze dried meals and it was pretty good (I had the MREs for backup). Later on we did the whole marshmallow thing, and they loved to cook them but had no desire to eat them. So by the end I was feeling pretty sick of marshmallows. As the shadows grew longer, The boys began to slow down.

While it was 8pm it was still daylight, but I encouraged the boys to go ahead and go to bed. I used my air mattress as a seat and sat by the fire. It took them about thirty minutes to finally go to sleep and I just sat by the fire for about an hour. I am looking forward to doing that again.

It was when I decided to call it a night that I discovered something new. The tent was pitched on a slight (ok relatively steep) incline. I have a nice air mattress but when combined with a nylon sleeping bag and incline it equals a dry slip and slide. So the whole night I fought gravity, three guesses who won.

In the morning we awoke to about 45 degree brisk air (but clear and dry). We cooked some oatmeal, and had a granola bar for breakfast. Up until this point things had gone really smooth. But Joshua did not want anything I had to eat, and he was cold. Even though I built another fire, he was tired, cranky, hungry and cold, and for a five year old this equals major meltdown.

We packed up and started back. The only problem was that Kimberly wasn’t due to pick us up until after 9am and it was about 7:30am. We hiked back and used that bathroom we neglected at our arrival, dropped the packs, and ran around in the large field by the park (in the warm sun). When Kimberly picked us up we all had smiles and were happy to be going home.

Later, I asked Caleb what he liked best about our camping trip and he said “running around in the field.” Sometimes I forget that my children just want to play with dad.

Monday was our first graduation for the year. Hannah-Grace has now officially graduated out of Reading Express that meets at Brunswick Elem. School and is on her way to pre-k next fall! The program is wonderful, and H-G can actually read words and is very excited about continuing to learn to read. She will often surprise me with what she is able to read around her.

Our move to Brunswick has been filled with blessings and surprises. When we first made the move and visited the school, Kimberly and I were not impressed at all with the facilities. But over the summer they removed the orange shag carpet that had been there since the 70’s and spent some money sprucing up. Our experience this year was very good and we have no complaints. I am convinced that it’s not the facility that really matters in education but the quality of the teachers and staff inside – and at Brunswick Elem. they are excellent.

https://drewboswell.com/278/

Baptisms are a ton of fun. A little over a year ago Daybreak purchased a portable baptismal tank/pool. It is a large round tank that we fill up with water from the kitchen at the Delaplaine. We just hook up a garden hose in the kitchen, run it to the front of the Pavilion room, and fill’r up! The room was very full, and lately there is almost a sigh of relief when the kids are dismissed. Everyone can breath all the way out and have a little wiggle room. The people standing in the back can come in a sit down, and others can have some breathing (singing) room. God is doing some really cool things right now, and the baptisms on Sunday are just a little piece of these blessings.

In preparing to take the boys camping I have been reading up online about survival techniques such as “what to do if you are lost in the woods.” Every article makes some kind of reference to staying where you are and letting others find you. You can make a signal fire, try and build a shelter, but every article I read said to stay put.

When you get disoriented your blood pressure and heart rate go up, and there is this huge urge to do something: run, hike, climb, swim!; you just want to feel like you are making some kind of progress. Most of the time people use up valuable resources, energy, and precious mental fortitude with nothing to gain from it.

Let’s face it, we all get over whelmed and turned around from time to time, and the best thing to do until we are able to get our bearings is to sit still and stay where we are. The Bible even says in Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God. . .” But it such a powerful instinct to do something.

We also live in a land where there is a constant pressure to be the best,; (in my world it’s have the largest growing church, the most baptisms, the “success story.”) So we push and push, drive and drive, and always stay on the go. I hate to be still and wait – it feels like the world passes you by and those “other guys” are getting ahead.

While you are waiting out there in the forest doing your best to suppress the desire to do something for the sake of doing something, you are also trusting that someone is coming to get you. In order to survive you have to be still and trust others. As if sitting still were not hard enough now we have to put our lives in the hands of other people.

As a leader I put my success and future in the hands of others every day. I have to trust that while I can’t see them, they are working hard to make our team successful. Also, leaders have to wait until those that follow them come along to where they are. If they go too far ahead they get lost, if they stay too close they remain at base camp forever and never move to the summit.

There are seasons of great leaps forward, and there are seasons of sitting still. So in my life right now, I am trying my best to sit still and I am waiting. Grab a log and join me, and let’s make some coffee (there I go doing something again).

Sunday begins our next round of small groups at Daybreak. This will be the second consecutive time that Kimberly and I have led a group. Last time was so much fun, we just knew we had to do it again. You never know exactly what will happen, what people will say, or how the group dynamic will be.

For this round we will be discussing Paul Little’s book Know Why You Believe. It deals with questions like, “How can you know that there is a God?,” “Did Jesus really rise from the dead?” or “Why is there pain and evil in the world?”