The Great Outdoors
I woke during the night… rain pitter-pattered on the tent top. A once soothing creek right behind our camp now gargled into the Cahaba River, as if it were angry. The slow, steady rain had swollen both creek and river. The noise likely wouldn’t have disturbed me had my air mattress not deflated sometime during my slumber. And it was getting colder in the night… for which I wasn’t adequately dressed. Nor was I prepared for the big rock that now positioned itself in the middle of my back as I lay on the cold, hard ground. It seemed that amidst life’s discomfort… I needed better shelter.
At sunrise, Chris Jackson and I got up to begin the day… Easter Sunday. Chris, an Executive Coach with C12 in Montgomery, has been a dear friend for much of my adult life. But more than that, he has been a spiritual mentor, accountability partner, brother in arms, and any number of other titles at various points in my life. A tarp hung lowly over the fire bed from the previous night. Chris, always thinking ahead, had anticipated the rain. After breakfast, Chris’ two youngest boys and my two oldest girls all scavenged the rain-soaked woods around trying to stave off boredom… there would be no floating further down the river today with the threat of some severe weather looming. We hunkered down to try to keep shelter from the elements. The rain, though, would not dampen the cause for celebration… and after the kids had all worked off some of their restless energy, we called them all back up to the campfire. The rain had slowed to a drizzle and the warmth of the fire, and the smell of the smoke was inviting. I read the Gospel’s account of the Resurrection, and Chris delivered a great devotional about the importance of finding Jesus wherever you are. He then commissioned the kids to conduct a very special scavenger hunt. “Go find something from nature and bring it back to the group and tell how you “found Jesus” in that piece of nature you bring back.” Before dismissing us, Chris reached into his pack and pulled out some bread and a small bottle of grape juice. Communion on the Cahaba… and on Easter Sunday, no less. What a memory to be made. And in memory of Him, we did.
Assembling the crew back together, Chris and I settled them down with a few ‘booger tales.’ For whatever reason, they didn’t believe Chris and I once captured Big Foot and shaved him down…. turns out he is really a French Poodle with a bad perm! One by one the kids opened their plastic Easter egg to reveal the fruit of their scavenger labor. Bay took a sweet gumball and cut it in half to signify the Crown of Thorns. Jake fashioned briars in a similar Crown. Cape put salt in her plastic egg and then read from the Good Book about how we are to be the salt of the earth. Grey held fast to a flat granite rock… “the cornerstone” he explained. And Chris and I both knew that these kids had truly found the Shelter they needed. No rain, no passing thunderstorm, no flood of life… will ever sink their spirit. For they know well where to find Shelter… “[their] refuge and [their] fortress, [their] God, in whom [they] trust.” Psalm 91:2. A few hours later the sun majestically made a triumphant and glorious entrance in the treetops above our camp… and then just as quickly, disappeared again. I couldn’t help but think it was just a reminder that just as the sun and the rain falls on everything, His grace does too. Matthew 5:45.
-Walt Merrell
A Christian Outdoorsman who writes of his adventures with his family, with the hope that others might be inspired and encouraged to embrace God’s tapestry, otherwise known as the great outdoors, as a means of finding Common Ground. You can follow him at Shepherding Outdoors on FB, YT and IG and at shepherdingoutdoors.com. His most recent book is available at shepherdingbook.com. Read his faith story at www.BirminghamChristian.com.
