One of the things I like to do most is fish and camp and the best I have ever found is in the Boundary Waters and Quetico Provincial Park in Canada. By going into an area where you don’t see very many people for six days, live in a tent and travel by canoe, you get a real perspective on life. All you see is God’s creation, rocks, trees, water, moose, eagles, fish and an occasional bear.
You are disconnected from the digital world, no phone or computer, and you find it real easy to take your watch off and put it away for a few days. You really don’t need to know what time it is, you just eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired, and fish when you feel like it. Sounds like paradise doesn’t it? In the busy world we live in today it is kind of like paradise. God provides all we need but we really can’t just sit back and enjoy because somebody has to do the cooking, clean the fish, collect wood and prepare the fire, set up the tents, and paddle the canoe. It isn’t the Garden of Eden.
The picture above was taken on my last trip into the area, and when I say last I mean there may not be another like this because it is getting more difficult to do the portages with the canoe on my back and sleep on the rocks. This trip was through the United Methodist Camping program at Ely, Minnesota and I took my son, my grandson (9 years old at the time) and four others from the church I was serving. It rained every day and the day we decided to go for a long excursion with lots of portages to different lake areas, it rained all day. We were soaked and exhausted when we got back to our camp site. As soon as we got our fire going and a tarp erected over the fire so we could get dry and warm, our spirits returned and we enjoyed the fresh walleye and northern pike along with some fried potatoes and onions and slept soundly through the night.
The last night on our campsite we had a terrible storm that lasted all evening and into the morning. We needed to paddle out for about 6 hours to meet our host at a pick up point and with the choppy water and loaded canoes it was quite an experience. We chose a route that would give us some cover from the wind part of the way and were able to make it on time but just barely.
This to me is life lived to the fullest. It is beautiful, peaceful, reviving, exciting and refreshing. Some people will say that they don’t need to go to church to worship God and that is true, but God does call us to be in communion with our brothers and sisters. Enjoy God’s creation to the fullest but remember to participate in ministry.
You are disconnected from the digital world, no phone or computer, and you find it real easy to take your watch off and put it away for a few days. You really don’t need to know what time it is, you just eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired, and fish when you feel like it. Sounds like paradise doesn’t it? In the busy world we live in today it is kind of like paradise. God provides all we need but we really can’t just sit back and enjoy because somebody has to do the cooking, clean the fish, collect wood and prepare the fire, set up the tents, and paddle the canoe. It isn’t the Garden of Eden.
The picture above was taken on my last trip into the area, and when I say last I mean there may not be another like this because it is getting more difficult to do the portages with the canoe on my back and sleep on the rocks. This trip was through the United Methodist Camping program at Ely, Minnesota and I took my son, my grandson (9 years old at the time) and four others from the church I was serving. It rained every day and the day we decided to go for a long excursion with lots of portages to different lake areas, it rained all day. We were soaked and exhausted when we got back to our camp site. As soon as we got our fire going and a tarp erected over the fire so we could get dry and warm, our spirits returned and we enjoyed the fresh walleye and northern pike along with some fried potatoes and onions and slept soundly through the night.
The last night on our campsite we had a terrible storm that lasted all evening and into the morning. We needed to paddle out for about 6 hours to meet our host at a pick up point and with the choppy water and loaded canoes it was quite an experience. We chose a route that would give us some cover from the wind part of the way and were able to make it on time but just barely.
This to me is life lived to the fullest. It is beautiful, peaceful, reviving, exciting and refreshing. Some people will say that they don’t need to go to church to worship God and that is true, but God does call us to be in communion with our brothers and sisters. Enjoy God’s creation to the fullest but remember to participate in ministry.
Your Fellow Servant,
Pastor Homer
Pastor Homer
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