Photo by Daniel Tanksley
In a few days we will leave Camp Cretaceous for another year. I wrote this two mornings ago, once again as the sun was rising. I felt inspired to write this as a prayer instead of my normal testimony format. I pray that you will get the feeling of worship that I felt while writing it. So it is with awe and praise that I share this and thank you all for your forbearance with my thoughts.
“But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.”
Malacai 4:2
As another day begins here in the high plains, it brings to mind such verses as this one! You almost have to be here to understand. Our camp is set up in what is the winter grazing land for the cattle on this expansive and amazing ranch. The only thing that keeps me from seeing this place as God created it is the few fence lines that run in the distance. As I sit here waiting for the sun to rise the grass is waving with a slight breeze and meadow larks are singing. In the distance the hills stand sentinel as if saluting the rise of the sun and a new day. As the sky begins to blaze with orange hues mixed with undertones of brown and white, far in the distance the sun is breaking over the horizon.
This is the beginning of our third week here at Camp Cretaceous. I cannot last week was an easy time, three or four different school groups joined us and at one point the camp swelled to near one hundred, but reflecting on it I see how the wonders of this place will stay with each of those young people and their leaders, it gives me an awesome feeling like sharing a present with a friend, but in this case it really was not mine or ours to give, it was a gift from the Creator.
That idea of Creator is so central to all that is done out here. No we are not here to proof he exists, this place alone does that as does as well as it is seen in all creation. It is just that as we seek to dig into the soil of past times and history, we can see that there is a plan, a real and tangible, touchable record of His work and relation with us, His sons, and daughters. I know others may see this completely different, but I can testify as one who still struggles sometimes to believe, that here in this place, I feel His presence. It truly is a gift; one I wish I could share with all of you. Maybe these verses will help explain my feelings:
“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12: 7-10
Now as the sun is risen, I can reflect on these verses from the book of Job. I can see it and feel it and in this I am renewed. Gone is the ideas of scorching heat of yesterday and weary sleeplessness in a not so comfortable bed. Gone are the pains and aches of all it takes to live in the middle of a cow pasture. All of it to be replaced by the refreshing breath of the morning breeze and the warming sun. I am sure today I will find more hardships as will most of us here, but each will find something also this day to renew them and to lead to them to see the Creator. I cannot ask for more and in this way, I can feel I am the most blessed person in midst of God’s green and beautiful pastures.
