Tent Camping

 by Macy Johnson

“Live in booths for seven days:

All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God.”

(Leviticus 23:42-43 NIV)

 

My husband and I are on a quest to find the best camp site. Georgia has many amazing State Parks, several within a few hours of our home. In one day we can explore two or three campgrounds. I take notes on the map provided by the park office, while Jeff navigates the snaky roads through the camping area. We enjoy lunch at a local eatery and discuss what we’ve discovered.

 

Jeff and I have visited a dozen state parks, with plans to investigate several more. Our goal is to sleep under the stars three nights every month. It is a wonderful way to escape the ordinary and experience God’s extraordinary. The icing on the camping cake is all the wonderful people we meet: park employees, park volunteers, and fellow campers.

 

Waking up in a tent reminds me I am a traveler, a temporary resident on this planet. Waking up to below-freezing, November temperatures in the north Georgia mountains prompted us to find the nearest Walmart and buy electric blankets! I wonder what hardships the Israelites faced every morning for forty years as they gathered breakfast manna.

 

Stepping through the front door of our house after living several days in the wild makes me thankful for a sturdy, warm place to call home. As God nudged the Israelites, He reminds me that He will bring us out of our temporary, tent bodies into new, permanent, eternal temples for His glory.

 

I will worship God with praise and gratitude in my temporary tent, my human frame for now. I hope you will, too!