outdoors – The Traveling Kites

Sometimes it is good to be reminded of how great it is to be happily married. Sharon and I celebrated forty-five years a few months ago and our life together has been a joy. Sure, we have ups and downs. Every married couple does. But we stick together through each one and our life together has been a true blessing from God.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. -Proverbs 18:22

All our married life, we have enjoyed camping together; first the two of us, then with our two kids (and an occasional pet cat or dog), then with a church youth group (mission trips, music festivals, etc.), then back to the two of us again.

As I look back, there has never been a time that I’ve taken a solo camping trip. There have been a few occasions when I have gone without Sharon, but those times have been with a group. All of that changed this fall.

Sharon went with a group of ladies from our church to a women’s conference about four hours away. They were gone Friday morning through Saturday evening. So, I made a reservation at a lakeside state campground an hour from home. After driving to a town near the lake, I stopped at a supermarket to buy some cheese-filled sausages to cook over the campfire, and some buns. It was still an hour before check-in at the campground, so I stopped to walk four miles on a bicycle trail, alongside the lake. It was a beautiful day with an amazing view of God’s creation.

Upon arrival at the campground, it didn’t take more than a few minutes before I missed my travel companion. We have wandered together enough that we have a good routine upon arrival. Sharon sets up the inside while I get things ready outside the van. So, it seemed to take twice as long to set up this time.

That feeling of missing her continued throughout the trip with one exception… Saturday morning.

Sharon and I are very different people when it comes to morning time. My perception of her is that as soon as her feet hit the ground, she goes immediately to work on something. It may be cooking, or sewing, or something else, but she hits the ground running.

I, on the other hand, am more of the quiet contemplative type in the morning. I get up, spend some time with the Lord in my Bible and prayer, then make a fresh cup of Aeropressed coffee. The coffee is a continuation of my morning solitude as I sit and slowly sip while watching a travel video on YouTube (I am currently on a Tokyo kick). My genre of choice is the travel video with no talking. Subtitles are OK, but just the sounds of the surroundings or quiet music is all the background I need. This contributes to my morning calm.

This is not to say that Sharon doesn’t have a personal devotion time. She does. She just has a different time of day when she connects with God. We often go to the Lord together, in prayer, when we take walks. So that is another part of missing her on my solo trip.

On the Saturday morning of my solo trip, my camping routine came into play. I got up slowly and quietly, gathered my gear and went outside to grind and brew some pourover coffee. Then, with Yeti cup in hand, I came back to sit in the rotated passenger seat in the van beside the opened, side sliding door, where I spent some time in the Word and in prayer. Being alone, my quiet time continued as I walked the short distance from my campsite to the boat docks to view the coming sunrise. The temperature was cool, but pleasant. There are actually two docks that go out into the calm morning water. I was on the one further from the sun because there was a lady with her small dog on the other one. This presented the opportunity to compose a nice photograph of the sunrise with she and her dog silhouetted in the foreground.

As I stood there, admiring the beauty of God’s creation, another gentleman joined me on my dock. He said he had to come down to watch the sunrise because he works early and usually misses it. I was very pleased to share the dock to allow him this opportunity.

I took a morning walk around the campground to get started on my step-count, then a bit later walked about three miles to an ice cream shop next to a causeway. I would end the day with over ten miles on my fitness app.

Back at camp, I spent the rest of the day making a campfire and cooking another of those sausage dogs. They were delicious!

As evening came and it started getting cooler outside, I turned to an episode of Miami Vice (Season One) that I had downloaded prior to my trip. Ah yes… pastel-colored t-shirts and suit jackets with a background of great music of the 80’s. I must admit that I adopted a bit of the Sonny Crockett fashion for a short while back in the day.

I slept well on Saturday night and got up early Sunday morning for my coffee and devotions before breaking camp, stopping by the dump station, and traveling an hour toward home in time to arrive at our church for Sunday school and reuniting with my bride at 9:00.

I am thankful to have had this experience. It gave me a great appreciation for my wonderful travel partner and also showed me just how much I enjoy my morning solitude. I am often reminded of the quote by Chief Hopper on the television show, Stranger Things: “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation.” And to that, I close with a hearty AMEN!

-Randy

Blog & photos: ©️TheTravelingKites 2024

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? That is a question that came up in my Facebook stream this year. Perhaps you saw it too. If so, what was your response?

I remember being asked the question in school when I was a Jr. High student. My answer then was: a Forest Ranger. I imagined myself in the neatly-pressed, green ranger uniform, patches on the sleeves, hat on my head, walkie-talkie on my belt, standing in a fire tower, looking out over the forest through giant binoculars. The picture in my mind is still as vivid today as it was then. I can see the tops of the trees all the way to the horizon, broken only by a river and some winding dirt access roads. There are birds in the air and other wildlife occasionally passing by on the ground, next to my Jeep. Yes, the forest ranger in my head drove a Jeep.

The follow-up question on social media went something like: …and are you doing that thing today?

If you know me now, you know that I am not a forest ranger. I am a pastor, serving as full-time hospice chaplain. Life takes us down many roads. Things change along the way and many of us end up doing something completely different than our childhood dreams. Ministry is my calling and I love the work I do, but there are still some elements of my childhood dream that are alive and well in my adult life.

Sharon and I have been campers the entirety of our marriage. In our early days, we would take a tent to Cook Forest, Pymatuning, or some other western Pennsylvania location. Our outdoor adventures did not let up when our children came along. We would shoe-horn all of our equipment into the trunk of the car, load the kids and head out to a woodsy site.

I may not be a ranger in the fire tower today, but we have climbed them. My uniform may not be that of the park employee, but my hiking gear does just as good a job at helping me feel connected to nature. I enjoy collecting sticks and starting a fire with my ferro rod. I enjoy a good meal, cooked over the campfire. Although we like the comforts of an RV, we are not beyond pitching a tent, and have on a few recent excursions.

God created each of us to be a one-of-a-kind treasure, molded together with interests, talents and dreams that are uniquely you. Take time to enjoy the path he has established for you. In so-doing, you will find that life is full of joy and the embers of your childhood dreams are still glowing within. They may not look like you envisioned them when you were young, but they have a way of weaving throughout the building blocks of who you have become.

My love for the outdoors converges with my faith as I ponder the origin of the trees; the feel of the ground under my feet; the crackle of the fire; the beauty of the vast night sky. Psalm 19:1 says it well: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. All of this natural beauty draws my attention toward God.

So, getting back to the question; are you living your childhood dream? If you are, congratulations on the unwavering dedication to make your dreams come true. I suspect, however, that many of us diverged onto another path, somewhere along life’s journey. If that is the case, are there elements of your childhood dream still alive in your experience today?

May you find joy as your childhood dream gets rekindled. Fan that spark into flame and see where it takes you. Perhaps we can share a campfire someday and reminisce about the journey. I’ll bring the hot dog sticks!

Blessings,

Pastor… or should I say… Ranger Randy

Tag: outdoors

Lakeside Solitude

The Tale of Ranger Randy