From the Chaplaincy

Secondary School camps are just around the corner! Checklists are going to be ticked and bags packed this weekend. Don’t forget to include some uplifting thoughts, too, so that your expectations are positive and upbeat. 

A member of The Chaplaincy Team had an experience many years ago which is worth retelling. For the sake of the story, let’s call her Elizabeth. She, her husband, and a friend went on a hike which spanned a couple of swelteringly hot days. They navigated thick bush, scaled steep hills, crossed gushing streams and found themselves in a precipitous gorge. At this point they were wading knee-deep in a creek. As they rounded a bend, they immediately became aware that the cliffs narrowed, the water deepened, flowed more swiftly and dropped over a waterfall. 

Scrambling hastily to gain a foothold and climb up, Elizabeth stepped on a slimy rock and slipped. Face down in the river she felt herself being dragged feet first towards the lip of the waterfall. “Oh God!!” she yelled, not as an expletive, but as a reaching out to a Supreme Power. Flailing wildly she felt her fingernails dragging across the smooth face of a boulder and then connecting with a groove. Gripping fiercely, and a mere couple of metres from being swept over the edge, she felt her husband’s strong arms hoisting her up. 

The huge boulder on which the three young people sat, commanded a view of what lay ahead – a vertical, thirty-metre drop, splashing  across a number of sharp rocky outcrops, and plunging into a shallow pool below. Wide-eyed and shaking, horrifying images pervaded Elizabeth’s overwrought imagination. Knowing that they had to retrace their steps, she was rooted to the spot, terrified that even with the help of her husband and friend, she might slip and fall. 

Elizabeth’s husband wrapped his arms around her and whispered a much-loved scriptural truth, “ ’The LORD your God is with you wherever you go’. If you can’t hold onto me, hold onto that!” And she did! She closed her eyes and breathing slowly and deeply, she repeated the full quote over and over, ‘This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.’ – (The Bible, Joshua 1:9)

Of course, the story ended well. With new-found courage, strength and a sense of freedom, Elizabeth returned to their campsite safe and very grateful. That verse has lived with her ever since, and whenever she embarks on a journey, it is packed, both as a little note written out, and at the fore of her thought. 

So, happy campers, that verse is free for you to borrow and pass on, or pack your own uplifting thoughts, and let your positive expectations carry you safely and joyfully through your camping experience. 

The Chaplaincy Team