Call it “Cabin Fever,” if you want, but I can’t seem to shake the desire to go camping. I’m not talking about the camping where you go to a cement slab in the woods (or should I say down a road), complete with running water and a bath house. That’s just being uncomfortable outside. I want to hike into some “real woods” where no one is around and decide where I want to put the tent. It’s the idea of being like the show, “man v. wild” There might just be a need for me to urinate on my t-shirt and wrap it around my head (let’s hope not). But you get my point, I want to really go camping and hiking.

It all started when Kimberly and I received some extra money at Christmas time. So, I got to thinking. The boys are old enough (at least by spring) to take on an overnight camping trip. This is something that I have wanted to do for sometime, it just never seems to work out. So I started shopping on the web. I found some great deals and now have about half of the “stuff” I think we need to start our expeditions. The only mistake I have made so far, is that I ordered three porcelain covered metal cups (the green or blue ones with the little white dots), but when they arrived they are smaller than an espresso cup. So they have been donated to H-G’s tea set. So the old saying is true, “little price, little cup.” – or at least that’s my new saying. We’ll see if it takes off.

Another reason for wanting to do this is I want the boys to be apart of Cub Scouts when they get to first grade, and eventually to Boy Scouts if they are interested. It may be we have this “camping trip” in the Spring, and that’s it – I hope not.

So I have read lots of articles on the web, I even spent an hour last week in Barnes & Nobles skimming through camping and hiking books. I even set up the tent I purchased in the basement, and have practiced packing the gear, and unpacking it again.

Now, I wait. Come on Spring.

By the way, if you know of some great spots, or where to get some good equipment let me know.

I love to preach and teach the Bible. For me there is nothing really like it. The Bible has so much information, it is so packed full of wisdom, and wonder. And every week, as I preach through the Bible, I always have to leave something out. There is just so much stuff there, but there is only so much time.

So today, as we were looking at 2 Kings chapter 2, I felt I had to cut out the last part of the chapter. Up until now, I would just let it go, and hope at some time in the future I would be able to preach on it – but we live in the age of the blog.

2 Kings 2:23-25
²³ From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” ²⁴ He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. ²⁵ And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.

Elisha has taken Elijah’s place as the prophet, and God’s mouthpiece. He was the man who was responsible for representing God. Elisha, has performed two miracles up to this point. He rolled up Elijah’s cloak, struck the Jordan, and he cured the water that the people needed for their crops.

In this section of scripture something very interesting happens. Elisha called down a curse upon some teenage punks who were harassing him as he walked along a road. On the surface this seems to be cruel and excessive on the part of Elisha. But let’s go a little deeper.

First, the punks say, “go on up.” Like Elijah went up in a whirlwind, they are yelling that God’s representative, should just go away, because not only were they not respectful for God, but they were not at all respectful for His messenger. And they added, “you baldhead.” Those of us whose hair is not as thick as it used to be understand how Elisha is feeling.

2 Chronicles 36:15-16 “The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.”

Second, Elisha curses them, “in the name of the Lord.” Elisha was God’s man – and the youth completely disrespect him. So, by disrespecting him, they are disrespecting God. So when Elisha speaks, he speaks on God’s behalf. The main point of this passage is that we must have respect for God, for the things of God, and for the people of God.

It happened to be a bear, but it could just as easy have been a lion, or lightening, or whatever – the youth died because they showed no respect for God. As a parent I need to understand this. Not only must I show respect for God (and his representatives), but so must my children.

Tonight was our first evening of using the “Building Blocks” journals and the time went really well. I want to do this most nights as our quiet time, but I realized afterwards that we did not read any of the Bible. So, next time, we will read from their Beginners Bible, and spend some time praying and filling out our journals.

I found some of their prayers very interesting, so I pass them on to you.

Dear God,

I love you because,

Hannah-Grace – “You make my bad feelings go away.”

Caleb – “You are powerful”

Joshua – “You listen to my prayers.”

I am sorry I,

H-G – “yelled at Caleb.”

C – “hit my brother, Joshua.”

J – “accidentally hurt Isaac.”

Thank you for,

HG – “my ballerina, and my pencils”

C – “daddy, mommy, Granny, Nanna and Pop-pop, and Grandpa Bunny.”

J – “the toys I got for Christmas (R2-D2), and for making the earth.”

My prayer requests are,

HG – “please bring me a prince.”

C – “keep Santa safe, and the reindeer.”

J – “keep everybody in the whole world safe.”

I have learned tonight that my children are going to be teaching me some things about praying. Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.”

Vintage Faith

vin·tage adj. of high quality, especially from a past time period n. the date or time period when something was originally produced or existed

faith n. reliance and trust in a person or thing

The rethinking of my faith…

There is a rising feeling among followers of Jesus, that in many modern contemporary churches, something has subtly gone astray in what we call “church” and what we call “Christianity”. Through time, church has become a place that you go to have your needs met, instead of being a called local community of God on a mission together. Through time, much of contemporary Christianity subtly has become more about inviting others into the subcultures of Christian music, language and church programs than about passionately inviting others into a radically alternative community and way of life as disciples of Jesus and Kingdom living. We want to change this perception, and we are going to start with ourselves.

In our next series, we are going “old school,” as we look at how the prophets of old lived out their faith. Invite a friend and experience Vintage Faith together.

This exciting series will start January 30^th and go to February 17^th.

I wanted to make you guys aware of a resource that my children received for Christmas. It is called “Building Blocks” and is a journal for children aged three to seven. It is divided into three sections (My Daily Prayers, Counting My Blessings, My Personal Diary). The journal is designed to encourage and show children how to pray.

My children can not fully read and write yet so I am planning to have a time when we sit down and ask the various questions, and I will write down their response. I am looking forward to beginning with them. It asks them questions like: “I love God because . . .”, “I am sorry I . . .”, and “My prayer requests are . . .” and some others. On the back of the pages is an area for the children to draw a picture, paste a photo, etc…

If you want to check it out you can go to www.penmanpaper.com/index.php?cPath=34_40_47, plus their pretty cheap ($4.95). If you get one and try it out with your kid/s let me know how it goes, and I will give you an update in a few weeks.