Camping: nature's way of promoting the motel industry. - Dave Barry

If you were in North Texas this Easter weekend, you're aware of how cold it was. Much of the area even saw snow! Even so, seven families in our LifeGroup braved the chill and set up camp at Daingerfield State Park in East Texas.

If I were to show you a list of events from this weekend it would look like a horrible time:

• The weather was QUITE chilly. It was in the low 30s at night.
  
• My back went into spasm the first day as a result of having loaded the full ice chests into my van.
  
• My daughter took a spill on her Heelys the first day and earned a rather impressive road rash.
  
• My son poked a flaming stick into a friends eye.
  
• My daughter ate so much junk that she threw up the 2nd night.
  
• The zipper of the door on my beloved tent broke (Yes, during the 30 degree night).
  

The fact is, though, that the picture above says more about the trip than any list could. The young blond boy is my son. The young man holding him is a dear friend. His family and ours have been part of each others lives for many years. The big boys on the trip were so sweet to my son. They are so good to him, even though he's so much younger. Camping is a time that they get to all be together and play outside, burn things and get dirty.
This is my daughter and another young lady in the lifegroup. She was sweet enough to spend both nights in the brand new tent my daughter bought for this trip. The picture was taken in a BBQ restaurant in Daingerfield where we ate on Saturday night. We decided it was just too cold to get away from the fire and cook and do dishes. So, we all piled in the cars and headed to town. Where we stopped was one of those hole in the wall places where you know the BBQ is going to be great.


I'm not really sure if we were a blessing or a curse to the fine people running the restaurant. I do know that there were more of us than there were chairs. Our young people were polite and respectful. They were a joy to watch. I guess that's what I love about going camping. It's an opportunity for us to be together for a good chunk of time, get away from the normal distractions of life at home (like heat :-) and get to know each other better.

This weekend will certainly go down in LifeGroup lore.

More Later.

(Pictures courtesy of my friend and long time camping companion, Vanessa.)