These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

As I look out the windows in our study I can see tall pines from one side of the room and towering redwoods from the other.  These are two of my favorite trees that quickly steal me away, in my mind, to two of my favorite camping locations in the state of California.  With the view of the beautiful pines, I can easily allow myself to drift off and imagine camping at 5500 feet in the pristine Sierra Nevada mountains in Plumas County, staring wistfully up another 2000 feet to the top of Eureka Peak in Plumas Eureka State Park.  The redwood trees bring me back to the myriad of summers as a kid camping with my family along the Eel River in Humboldt County at Richardson’s Grove State Park, along with the more recent memories of camping with my wife and our children along the Avenue Of The Giants just up the road near the booming metropolis of Myers Flat.  To me there is nothing better than waking up early, stepping out into the brisk quiet morning in the campgrounds, starting a fire, making the coffee and then sitting back at the camp table enjoying the quiet solitude, surrounded by the tall green trees, the clear skies, fresh air and all the little critters scurrying around the trees and rocks!  Wow… just thinking about it makes me want to pack the car and head north!

What about you?  Do you have favorite places that you like to go to?  Places that allow you the freedom to release the stress in your life, the opportunity to dream and play, or just sit like I like to do in the crisp quiet mornings and simply soak in the peace of your surroundings.  We all need locations like this in our lives.  For me it’s camping in the mountains, for others it’s the beach, or a hotel in an exotic location.  Rest and recreation are very important elements that we all need to incorporate into our schedules.  I have to admit, that we haven’t been camping for over five years now.  We packed all our equipment and brought it out and home again from Oklahoma without ever unpacking it.  I even sent for and received an entire box chocked full of camping locations within Oklahoma, made lots of plans, but never made the opportunity to follow through on them.  Now that we’ve been home for a couple of years, we still haven’t returned to the familiar trails of our favorite camps!

So, let’s work on this one together.  Let’s both schedule some R&R times in order to rejuvenate the body, mind and soul!  I mean, even Jesus took time off from his busy schedule to relax with his close associates.  

Psalm 23:2 says: “He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me besides peaceful waters.” (Gods Word©)  Ah… the peaceful waters of Little Jamison Creek… trout leaping for my hook (did I ever tell you that my youngest daughter always caught the biggest & most fish whenever we went fishing there!!!), skipping rocks, diving into the freezing, snow melt fed stream…  That’s it… I’m heading for the car… Oh wait a minute, that park is currently under quite a few feet of snow!  Maybe I should think about laying on the beach along the Eel River, floating on an air mattress amongst the gentle rapids…  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”