Letters from Camp Wilderness

Good Morning Fellow Freezing Friends!

Yesterday was a day to clean and reorganize. We picked up and took care of things that needed our attention. Guess what! Lowell helped and the boys cleaned their rooms! It was a great day of cooperation and completion.

We moved out to the pole barn after the house was organized and we started going through boxes of clothes and things that needed to be sorted. While we were cleaning, we saw evidences that Nala (our cat) has not been doing her job. She is the hunter and controller of mice in the pole barn. I had one box that had the big troll from my Aunt Marion packed inside, and there was a large hole in the corner of the box and a bunch of leaves at the corner of the opening. I told Lowell that Nala had slacked off badly and we proceeded to bring her over to the box to investigate it. She did not want to be 'put out' by our intrusion in her comfortable little world and she did not enjoy the ‘constructive criticism' we gave her regarding her job performance, so she ran off. When we got to that box, I started to open it to sort through its contents and I SAW A FACE! I QUICKLY REMOVED THE DOG AND THE KIDS AND TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH - IT SCARED ME! In the box along with my own personal decorations, and whatever else I won't miss, was AN OPOSSUM! A LARGE SHARP TOOTHED ANGRY BECAUSE WE DISTURBED HIS WINTER SLEEP OPOSSUM! HE DID NOT WANT TO COME OUT!

Lowell and I made a path for this BIG stupid thing to walk right out of the building with the kids looking on and cheering for their heroic parents (they are such good kids). I had climbed up the wall of the barn and Lowell had his telescopic tree trimmer and he ripped the box and all of the bedding away from this BIG creature. Chattering and complaining, the STUPID thing then took a completely different path to escape the disturbance. We had to track it down again, it had cornered itself again and was watching with evil amusement as we searched for it. I found its hiding place and the plan to capture was again underway. Naturally, I had the big fish net that we expected would do the removal job. Lowell gave the animal (did I say it was BIG?) a poke in the behind and it growled and complained right into my net! Now, I have done animal captures before and I have released unhappy raccoons and herded longhorns (yes, I said Longhorn Cattle) off of County Highways - but this was a BIG, HEAVY, ANGRY OPOSSUM! I was scared and the kids got more entertainment than watching television. So, I got him into the net, said many prayers (and, I think I spoke in tongues a little - no, I did not cuss) because I WAS AFRAID and I RAN him out of the building and dumped his sassy, freeloading, growling, heavy body on the ice and snow and he went running off (at a breakneck OPOSSUM speed ) with encouragement from a couple snowballs from the kids (who were laughing at their scared mother) well out of OPOSSUM range. Needless to say, we worked a little longer, came in for hot chocolate and warm food and a good night's rest.

So many of us are like the Opossum. We are settled into our comfortable pews at church, smiling away, when what we really need is a way out of our comfort zones. Jesus calls us to follow Him and, like the Opossum, we are more willing to take other routes and find other hiding places. Without the right persuasion, we are all likely to find comfortable places which are not appropriate. Like Bartimaeus, Jesus calls you to see clearly, His healing. (Luke 18:35-43) Like Zacchaeus, Jesus sees us in our ‘hiding places’ and calls us to come out to have fellowship with Him (Luke 19:1-10). We don’t need to be blind in our sin or hiding in places we ought not to be. We need to stop baring our teeth in fake smiles and follow the Lord to Salvation.

Stop playin’ ‘possum’ and follow the Right Path. Jesus will lead you to the shelter of God’s Almighty hand and no one will chase you out from there (John 10:25-30).

Love to everyone and hugum' if ya got um'.

Animal control specialist,

ellen

Secret Places

Greetings and Salutations from Camp Wilderness,

Well, Sadie got her way this morning, I took her out for her walk and we walked down the road to the waterfall. I am not sure if I told you that they added all sorts of gravel to our road last week, but , with the weekend rains, some of those spots are the speed bumps we complained about before. Nevertheless, the walk was cool and enjoyable. This area fills so many needs in me. I thought of something on the way back that I would like everyone to clearly understand - those of you who have known me for a long time, know why I love it here, others of you are about to find out.

In every child, there is a desire for a secret, beautiful, place. Your place might be the sandy beach, a field of beautiful, fragrant flowers, or the ocean. My place, was the country. I loved going to my Uncle Dave's House and hiking around (finding snakes and whatever other adventures). Other places that were even better, were: Camping, Hiking Gooseberry Falls, and the only time we went to the Coulee, I thought it was the greatest. When we moved to Wisconsin, the hiking place was down by the creek off of Diane Drive by my friends' house. I also enjoyed bike riding, where I could go miles into Brookfield and never be very far away. Now, I can walk down my washed out road and step into a world of ‘Indiana Jones’ and be in awe of God's provision and care. No, the troubles aren't gone, and I can' t escape the problems, but God hides me for a little while in the fantasies of my childhood, before I need to return to my very busy and stressful life. But for a brief moment, I have time to stop and Praise my Lord, for thinking that I need to be stopped to appreciate what He has already done for me. The kids got home from school yesterday, and we decided to stop down to the lake and drop in our fishing lines before we did homework and stuff. Somewhere, over the next hill, we could hear an owl as we fished. We didn't get any bites because the water is really churned up from the recent rains and there is A LOT of water pouring into the lakes from sources like our waterfall.

If you have ever had that secret place that I was talking about, you will understand that , sometimes, it is the greatest blessing just to find it and live in it. My parents and those that have been here, think that my life is just as busy or more than it was when I lived there. Well, God has given me a secret place to run to and relive my adventures and revive my walk with Him when I get home, because, this is the quiet time I guess I need. It doesn't get the bills paid and I am not having a stress free time, but , my neighbor is God and if I need to, I'll run to the waterfall and have some time that will fill up my empty cup.

Please remember that it is not Nature or some earth goddess ( or whatever the cultists of the day would have you believe) that brings you peace. Jesus is the ONLY answer to salvation and no matter how awe filled you are and how much you think you have your own life together - you are nothing and will not accomplish anything, unless you are walking in the power of ONLY God - Our Heavenly Father, whose only Son died for YOU. (John 14:27-31).

We live in a world of confused people. Share Jesus with someone today. Help them find the secret place in their life where they will experience God’s peace.