Camping

So,

I decided that this weekend, after a LONG month, would be a great time to go camping. We ended up going down to Lost Creek Wilderness, about one hour south of Denver. It'd been quite a long time since I had gotten out of the city, so I was pretty stoked.

My buddies Keith, Jeremy, and Nick all traveled along. We did the basic car camping thing, where you pull up to a primitive space (i.e. no electricity or toilets), set up a couple of tents, built a fire (that withstood two rain storms), pulled the cooler out and had a great time. There's little in life better than cold beer, hot dogs, and good conversation.

We decided later in the night that Keith, Jeremy, and myself would share my two man tent (yes, three grown men in a two man tent). We inflated Jeremy's twin size air mattress, which took up well over half of the tent. In the end, Keith and I shared a the air mattress (yes, two grown men on a twin mattress), and Jeremy slept curled up in the corner. It was a tight fit, but we got along okay.

This morning we got up and made egg and bacon sandwiches. Then I got to take a little bit of time and go for a walk and pray.

Here was the key to the whole experience for me: presence. You see, I realized a couple of weeks ago that I sincerely struggle with being present in any one place at any one time. I am constantly thinking about where else I need to be. I feel pretty drained most of the time because my life is lived 30 minutes in advance, if that makes sense. Last night was a great opportunity to take periodic moments to realize that I was only in that place. There were no meeting to run to, no one demanding anything of me, no deadline that needed to be met. It was only that moment.

I have found that this is a struggle even in my time with Jesus. I have started a practice of keeping a journal with me while praying to make a to do list...a list of things that come to mind. As I write them down, I am able to let go of them. It is an incredibly liberating experience to just be where I am...and to enjoy Jesus' presence with me.

And this weekend was a great opportunity to rediscover that. Go forth and enjoy the presence of Jesus...