WILDERNESS LAKES

On Tuesday, Sarah and I loaded the kids and all of our camping gear into the ol' family truckster and set a course for fun at Wilderness Lakes Campground in Menifee, CA. Of course, being from Idyllwild we are kind of camping snobs, and you might be wondering why we would leave Idyllwild to go camping in a place like Menifee. It's a fair question.  First of all, when you want to get away you have to go somewhere that isn't where you are. Most Californians go up into the mountains to go camping, but living as we do already in the mountains, and being the nonconformists that we are, we decided to buck this trend and descend into the flatlands. Plus, Wilderness Lakes had some amenities that are not offered at the campgrounds around these parts. They had recreational opportunities such as swimming pools, hot tubs, a miniature golf course, pool tables, an arcade, etc...

On the drive there Sarah and I did begin to question the wisdom of this plan as we watched the temperature climb steadily higher and higher. The angry fire-eye in the sky meted out its wrath on the country and waves of heat radiated off the crust round about, but the temperature within the ol' family truckster was maintained at a comfortable 75 degrees thanks to the wonder of air-conditioning. Although it plainly annoyed Sarah, I began to describe our campsite in unrealistic terms as though it was going to be a comfortable oasis. I had just finished describing wilderness lakes as a place "where cool mist rolls across the meadows," when Sarah demanded that I stop. "It's not gonna be like that," she said, "You're pumping it up too much." However, as unlikely as it may have seemed as we were driving there, on the first morning that we were there, and, indeed, every morning thereafter we awoke to a cool mist rolling across the meadows (photo above). In fact two of the three mornings it actually rained a little.

We found it necessary to purchase some camping equipment, which on previous camping excursions we have leaned on our friends to provide. We bought a camp stove, which is an essential if you plan on enjoying such vittles as taco-in-a-bag and spaghetti. We also bought an easy up to protect our family from the aforementioned fire-eye.

Ducks and other water fowl were abundant throughout the campground. In fact, wilderness lakes is something of a bird lovers' paradise. In the trees above our campsite there were nesting pairs of great blue herons, hawks, night herons, and scads of mourning doves which cooed in unison. Sarah says that herons make some of the ugliest noises ever, like pteradactyls, which they kept up all night long. I thought the sound was kind of exotic. There were loads of Canada geese around with goslings in tow.  They traveled everywhere in big troupes. Feeding the various birds was a lot of fun, especially for the kids. In the Wilderness Lakes store bags of duck feed could be purchased for fifty cents each. In addition to the ducks and geese we also fed a night heron with one eye which faithfully reported to our campsite every morning for a hot dog breakfast. Poor fella only had one eye.

As big a hit as the birds were the kids' favorite thing about Wilderness Lakes was their pool complex, which featured a 1 foot pool (perfect for Miles), a big pool and two hot tubs. The adults-only pool was situated directly across from our campsite, but the family pool was not far either.

I'm not sure why this is but Dads simply cannot enter a pool without all of their children, and even some children they don't know, ganging up on them for a merciless game of "kill Daddy." Sarah helped me apply sunscreen every time I went in, but the kids would rub it off of my shoulders as they were attacking me, which then exposed my freckled shoulders to the full wrath of the aforementioned fire-eye. By the end of the week my shoulders had become red, angry epaulettes of doom.

Tooth brushing party.

Look carefully at the photo above. Do you see anything wrong?

We didn't notice until it was too late, but in the excitement of heading out the door we issued a command to all of the kids to "Get your shoes on." The mistake we made was trusting that everything had simply gone to plan as we had directed. To our surprise Jack decided to put on two different kinds of shoes. This still would have been fine, unconventional but still functional, but sadly they were also both left shoes which made Jack's feet hurt. This was unconventional, not functional, not fine, and, yes, kind of frustrating.

On Wednesday afternoon we went into town for a planned excursion to catch a movie and eat out, but Jack's curious choice of footwear also necessitated an unplanned stop at Payless for a new pair of kicks. 

 

Then we went and watched the movie "Epic," which I thought wasn't half bad. Afterwards we ate at a P.F. Chang's before heading back for one last dip in the pool at Wilderness Lakes.

In the morning the ducks would not be denied. They came right up to the door of our tent.

We also did a fair amount of fishing, and although we could sometimes see the fish we didn't have any luck. The canals which wind throughout the grounds are stocked regularly with catfish. I bought some bait especially for catfish which is made from some kind of dough and infused with garlic and chicken blood. It looked a lot like poo, and when we opened up the bag it was a like being punched in the face. "That's a big bag of dairy farm right there," I remember saying as Sarah made me remove the bag from our campsite. Bowden and I bravely held our breath while we formed our "poo- balls" around our hooks. As we were fishing I caught Bowden laughing to himself. I asked him what was so funny and he pointed out that the bag had said on it "NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION." "Like who would actually try and eat that, Dad."

 

Although it was really hot during the day the evenings and morning were actually kind of chilly.

One-eye the hot dog eater.

Some miniature golf action. We had to skip hole #1, because a weasel was living in it. They had pictures of the weasel in the club house, and a sign warned golfers to avoid that portion of the course. The kids wanted to see the weasel pretty badly, but were sadly disappointed.

When Miles wasn't hitching his pants up he was swinging for the bleachers. No matter if he's inches or miles from the hole he's gonna hit that ball with everything he's got.

Miles and Jack's style of play more closely resembled field hockey. Jack, however, really loved playing and he improved quite a bit as he got more practice.

We were bummed that we missed the annual camping trip that our friends have at Hurkey Creek because camping out is really the only way that adults can have a sleepover, but it was also fun for us to get away as a family, just us. Sarah and I decided that we need to do more of this as a family. It was good to be together.

MY NEXT SPEAKING OPPORTUNITY

This year I will be speaking on every Sunday in July. On the first Sunday of the month, July 7th, I will be bringing the morning message at Camp Maranatha's Family Camp. On July 14, 21 and 28 I will be speaking at good ol' IBC, service times 9:00 and 10:45.

THIS MORNING- June 6, 2013

This morning I woke to the sound of the bathroom door's hinges softly moving on its hinges as the morning breeze came in through the open windows. It sounded like the creakings of a ship. I shuffled outside, and as the sun rose my toes stretched and warmed themselves against the rough boards of the porch. Over the rim of my coffee cup I took in the incredible sight of a bobcat being chased into the woods by enraged crows. One crow hung back, and from the uppermost branches of a nearby tree it made vocalizations that sounded like it had a mouth full of marbles.

HOMOSEXUALITY- A QUESTION

The Greek word used most commonly for sin in the Bible's New Testament (Matthew through Revelation) is "hamartia," which means "a missing of the mark," but what mark is in view when we are talking about sin? I believe the bull’s eye of this target is the perfect righteousness of God's character. All that is described as sinful in the Bible flies wide of or falls short of God's character. Thus I think it can be fairly said that sin is a sort of negative reflection of God. For example, adultery is a sin because God is faithful. Lying is a sin because God is truth. Fornication is a sin because God is covenantal. We would be wrong if we concluded that sin and virtue were arbitrarily assigned as though they were simply pulled from a hat. God's character is the anchor point to which these classifications are attached. Sin is sin because of who God is, and I have found it a rich and helpful area of study to meditate on sin in its inverse. So this brings me to a question that I have been pondering in light of recent headlines- Why is homosexuality a sin? or to put it another way- What is it in God’s character that homosexual conduct runs contrary to?*

I have some thoughts on the matter, but I am curious to hear what you think.

*As I write I am sensitive to the fact there may be some among my readership who do not accept my presupposition that homosexual conduct is inherently sinful. There are likely others who do not believe that such a thing as sin even exists; at least not as it has been traditionally defined. I suspect that some of my readers probably experience same-sex attraction, and there are others who think there’s nothing wrong with it. If you are such a person I am eager for you to understand that although we may not agree I would like to have an honest, respectful dialogue about these things. My intent is not to heap judgment on you or anyone else. Nor is it my intent to single out homosexuality to the exclusion of other sexual sins such as fornication or divorce, but rather to pose a question about which I am genuinely curious-  What is it in God's character that homosexuality represents a departure from? We were all born with a latent sex drive and, according to the Bible, a sin-nature also. This lethal cocktail means that most of us will eventually stray into some form of sexual sin, but I am grateful that God has made a way for sinners such as me to be forgiven and to know salvation. You too can know salvation. I hope you don’t sense a harsh, critical self-righteous spirit behind my words. I am a fellow struggler.

I am just hanging my shingle in the marketplace of ideas, but I want to be neighborly about it.

BLUE

I have never once encountered a robin's egg, whether partial on the sidewalk or whole in a nest, and not thought of God.

I wanted to make the keyboard chuckle tonight, but my fingers are like soldiers without orders. They wait, and so must I.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

SPAM POETRY #2

To check out my previous installment of spam poetry click HERE.

Every line of spam poems are a complete and separate subject line from spam e-mails I have received and deleted. Enjoy.

If you would like to submit your own spam poetry to be posted on the BFZ send them to me at barefootkangaroo@aol.com

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DIAGNOSIS HOT

What's hot in Idyllwild?
I'm in Idyllwild
Do you think I'm hot?
Are you in Idyllwild?
You're so hot
You should see a doctor
Diagnosis isn't good
Too hot!

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PCT THRU-HIKERS

This morning when I ventured into town on an errand I noticed that the people were being unusually friendly toward me. Perfect strangers were smiling at me, staring at me, holding doors open for me, and asking me how I was doing as though they were sincerely concerned about my well-being. It was confusing. Then I bumped into a friend of mine who said that he almost didn't recognize me with my hat on, "I thought at first you were a thru-hiker," he added. Oh! So that was it. Earlier that morning I had put on wide-brimmed hat (photo above) before heading out the door to work, and it does resemble the sort of hat commonly worn by thru-hikers.

Every year, around this time, thru-hikers begin to trickle into town on their annual migration from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. They arrive looking trail-weary and bearded. They eagerly drop their packs outside of coffee shops, restaurants, the post office, library and along the front porch of the Idyllwild Inn before reuniting with the comforts of civilization- beds, beer, pizza, and wireless internet. They also seem to have knowing, introspective eyes, as though their intellectual palate had been washed clean in the lonely quiet of the back country, and their reemergence into society allows them to see things differently. I suspect they see things that I am blind to.   

Being confronted by thru-hikers causes me to feel a wide array of emotions. They seem drunk with the novelty of their existence and, in their presence, I feel somewhat dissatisfied with my own. I know it's not fair to them, and also probably wildly inaccurate, but I always feel vaguely judged by them. They always make me feel especially fat.  To be honest, I do envy them a little as well. In some ways I think I was built by my Creator to thrive in solitude, and I would enjoy the opportunity to be alone with my thoughts, putting one foot in front of another for days at a stretch, and then limp into town with new eyes for the place. Plus I know that their vanilla latte will taste far better than mine because it was earned and anticipated over miles of sun-drenched trail. I also wonder at the expense and, frankly, the frivolity of their pursuit. It doesn't benefit anyone. It's not profitable. It seems to be primarily born of catharsis. I think I would enjoy being a thru-hiker, but in order to enjoy it fully I would need to be guided in my endeavor by an ethos larger than personal fulfillment. I've never asked them for their reasons, but such are the sum of my suspicions. I clearly do more judging than them.

Still, in a mysterious way, I am drawn to them. Their experience is magnetic to me, and judging by the reaction of my fellow townspeople to my hat this morning, others feel the same. Folks want to share vicariously in their experience. They excite in me a desire to help them along their way, and this even as I privately judge the merit of their undertaking. Their arrival coincides with a general outpouring of good-will from the people of Idyllwild. Folks who would never think of offering a ride to a neighbor walking along the road will stop and inquire if they can be of service to thru-hikers, and even agree spontaneously to drive them as far as Big Bear. Folks who would never help the needy from within their own community will pay for the meals and groceries of thru-hikers. They offer them hospitality in their homes and consider it no hardship to put themselves out for them. Judging by the way people help thru-hikers you would think they were on a quest to cast a ring into Mordor or taking much needed medicine to a remote village or something, but as best I can discern the long walk is not a means to such a noble end. It is an end all its own. It's strange to me, this desire to help them. Why do we not treat our neighbors with the same concern and generosity as these transients?