Spirit's Pavilion 2

My eyes had never touched place 37,219 for that place to even be imagined in my mind. Never seen by me. Never imagined by me.

Until...

Spirit's Pavilion...

It's interesting to think about places when no-one is at the place. It doesn't cease to be the place while no-one is there. Most of the time, we just don't think about a place while we're not at it. Most of the time. We might think, " Later, I'm going to the store...", but we don't slow to think about the store, what it's like, what the atmosphere was like when we were at the store the last time. We just acknowledge that we're going to the store, we go and that's that.

But not always.

There are times when we are not at a place and we long to be there. I have a very specific memory from my childhood. One summer I went with my friend, John Collins, to a camp in Lake Lure, NC. Camp Lurecrest (place 7,012,661). It was amazing. It was so much fun. Badminton tournament. Water skiing. Really fun games. Fountain drink machine where you could get a little bit of each flavor in your cup. Talent night. Camp week romances. I remember the worship leader singing a story song called "Forty Brave Soldiers for Jesus". My camp counselor was Gary Anderson. He made the week so special. I realized that as younger boys, we thought that Gary was really cool. Kind of a "I want to be a camp counselor like Gary when I grow up" thing. I'm slowing to take that last line in as I think about how many camps the Lord has allowed me to be a part of over the last 30 years. Wow. That is so strong in me right now. God is always previous. As I noticed Gary and the appeal of his life during that week of camp, God knew how He would be investing my life for these 30 years.

Back to the story. Camp ended. I loved the week so much. Packed my stinky, sweaty clothes and my light and joyful heart and headed home to Charlotte. My parents picked me up at the church and we headed to our home, 334 Chillingworth Lane (place 469,712). I started unpacking my bag and I sorted my laundry to the laundry room to begin the smell detox and the wave of my wonderful week started waving over me. I remember laying in a recliner in our living room and I started nodding off to sleep, pretty viciously. The stereo was on quietly in the background on a Christian radio station. I heard the blurred sounds of music as I drifted in and out of camp-exhausted sleep. All at once I snapped into clarity. Someone had called into the radio station and was talking on the air. Apparently the radio host had thrown out the topic of "things you are thankful for" and had invited people to call in to share. Gary Anderson was talking on the radio! My camp counselor was talking on the radio! It was almost like a little mini-adrenaline shot to go from sluggish camp sleepiness to hearing the voice of a man who had been really significant to me for the last week of my life. I listened as Gary told the disc jockey about the week of camp that he had just experienced and that he was so thankful for the group of guys that had been with him in Cabin 2C.

I started crying.

There are times when we are not at a place and we long to be there. In that moment as I listened to Gary sharing his gratitude to the Lord for his "guys from 2C" in our week of camp, I missed being at Lurecrest soooooo much. Even as a younger man I would describe it as my heart aching. That place had hosted significant living for me. My inner life had been touched and transformed in big, subtle ways during our week of camp. I wanted to be with Gary and my camp friends at Lurecrest at that moment soooooo intensely. That was part of the real of my heart at that point of my young life. That is still a part of the real in my heart at this point of my older life. These details still come to life in me.

I'm not currently at Spirit's Pavilion......

but I'm thinking about it.

Sometimes we simply acknowledge that we're going to a place later, we go and that's that.

But not always.

Spirit's Pavilion.

There's more.