Ansible-One

This past July the family and I accompanied the Youth group to Glorieta, NM.  Our job was to drive a van and provide additional chaparone support as needed for the group.  The past several years I have gone as part of the team so to speak so this year was quite a change.  As it turns out, we were needed.  There was an emergency situation that required my wife heading in one direction to the hospital while I stayed behind to provide authority if needed.

Glorieta Main Entrance

All of that aside, Glorieta is awesome.  We played, worshipped God, and studied in the Word.  We will definately return as a family.  It is easy to relax and enjoy God’s creation and to be renewed by His spirit.

At home, it is nearly impossible to explore and experience raw creation like you can at Glorieta.  Everything is city.  Parks are small, and the larger ones are dangerous simply because people can be dangerous.  Not that I would let my son roam free at camp, but the attitudes of the people around us were quite different.

For example, the first thing the kiddo wanted to do was climb a mountain.  He ran to the back door of our building pointed through the glass and said, “that’s the one I am going to climb.”  The next morning we go out and start looking at our assigned challenge.  No paths.  No trails.  No sign any human had picked this spot to start climbing.  So we intrepidly dive into the woods up the slope.  We had made it maybe 20 feet when the volunteer building manager came out onto the back porch.

Instantly I’m thinking, here it comes, she’s going to tell us not to go this way or we can’t do this.  She asked if we are going on a hike?  After about 30 seconds of exchange she said, “Well, have a great time!”

I was floored.  Not that there wasn’t some part of me that expected her to just give us the thumbs up, but the whole conversation was genuine and direct.  None of the positioning and rationalizing that normally happens.  Off we go into the woods.

About an hour in we spot a road obviously used by horses and work trucks so we start to follow it.  (NOTE: it is nearly impossible to get lost.  Glorieta is at the bottom of the slope and the bell tower chimes every 30 minutes.)  In a few minutes we see a truck coming and we move out of the way so they can pass.  Friendly smiles and waves pass us and we keep on walking.  A few minutes later the truck is back.  I slip back to my “city” mode and think this guy is here to gripe at us for being there.

The worker asks if we are looking for a particular trail.  Since we weren’t looking for anything we asked there were any nearby we could check out.  He not only described the trail but when he drove away he motioned toward it as well.  Again just like the woman, this man was genuine.

I don’t know if was just the mountains or the camp, but after that morning I didn’t care about where I was or who I was talking to the rest of the time.  I know it is easy to see God’s presence in the midst of camp “spiritual highs”, but there is something to be said when Christians are acting like Christians.  If at home, church, or far away at camp we should always remember to love one another.

At some point in their lives, everyone gets tired.  Not the I just ran a mile as fast as possible tired, but the my heart isn’t in it anymore tired.  I can understand that.  We are human.  We have emotions that can control our actions more often than we care to admit.

When it comes to service in the church though, when have you had too much?  I believe I have seen the extremes of church servitude.  A person has lead Sunday school for 40 years.  She only stops to let other younger people have a chance to build and develop the work she has done.  If called upon, and if her health held up, she was there without a second thought.

The other extream would be the couple that thought it would be good to teach a class.  They discover the kids that normally attend are only there some Sundays and the interest of the teacher begins to fade.  Finally after only a few months they quit teaching and never offer to help again.

You have the teachers that are seeking help so they can have a break after teaching every week for the last 5 years.  The church is small so their students are the same students…week, after week, after week.  The response to their calls for help are answered with, “Oh no thanks, we’ve already done all that years ago, it’s time someone else serve.”

I’m sure there is a stack of great books about how to get the church to serve in more than the one-off situations, but when your church family is pushing their average age to 80 what can you do?

I don’t know the answer.  Talk is easy, reading an inspiring book or hearing a speaker is easy.  But to actually commit to the service…

For those that are looking for help, keep faithful and God will give you strength to serve and change lives.