Shortly after coming to Carl Junction, some generous church members offered to send my wife and me on a trip to the Holy Land. For some reason, I felt I should decline and instead take a group of young people to Mexico. My son David had developed a musical program with the teenagers, and we made arrangements for them to perform in churches on both sides of the border.
Forty-six of us went, sleeping on floors every night and eating the common food of peasants. We experienced the closeness of God as much, I’m sure, as if we’d been standing in Gethsemane.
Typical was an experience on Padre Island when, hot and thirsty, we prayed for some refreshment just fifteen minutes before a truck full of watermelons appeared. Later someone recognized the name on our church bus and offered us the use of his church building to spend the night, thus saving us hours of driving and convincing us that God is a very present help in time of need.
I presume a trip to the Holy Land makes you feel close to Jesus. This trip to Mexico did the same for me.
-Boyce Mouton
Christian Church
Carl Junction, Missouri
In July, 1981, our family of four drove from the landlocked Kansas plains to the majestic grandeur of the Poudre River Canyon west of Fort Collins, Colorado. For the first time, Matthew (age five) and Melanie (age four) encountered the wonders of wild flowers, brown trout, and the rushing Poudre.
One evening on a lark we drove the seventy miles back into Fort Collins just to get ice cream cones at Dairy Queen. Time wasn’t an issue.
That experience on the Poudre was a physical renewal that paved the way for spiritual revitalization in ministry.
-Kerwin Thiessen
Koerner Heights Church of the Mennonite Brethren
Newton, Kansas
Every year some laymen take me on a fishing trip, floating down the White River for three days. We catch trout, camp along the riverbank, and spend a couple hours after dinner each night thinking about the glory of Christ in our lives.
I’ve learned a lot from these expeditions. People genuinely love to hear about Christ, to be reminded of what he means to them, and to recall aloud how they’ve experienced his love.
Sitting on the riverbank with night coming on, one memory spurs another, and when we turn in around 9 P.M., satisfied by the presence of Christ, we’re even ready to endure the snores of others in the same tent.
-Oswald C. J. Hoffmann
Speaker, “The Lutheran Hour”
Saint Louis, Missouri
When I was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Rome, Georgia, some friends offered us the use of their cottage in Southern California. With four children, flying was out of the question, so we had to find the most economical way cross-country.
We considered renting a “pop-up” tent trailer, but between the cost and the time required for setup, we discovered discount motel chains were just as cheap.
I packed all our outdoor cooking equipment in a lockable box on our luggage rack atop the station wagon. We made reservations at motels where we could park in front of our room. Each morning, with tailgate open and Coleman stove fired up, we had grits, scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast; at noon it was sandwiches from the ice chest; at night, we enjoyed a hot supper at a roadside park or again off the tailgate.
The cost wasn’t much more than tent camping, and it included beds, indoor plumbing, air conditioning, and maid service. And each morning at least two dozen motel guests would like to have joined us for breakfast.
-B. Clayton Bell
Highland Park Presbyterian Church
Dallas, Texas
Being on a houseboat for a week with my family brought back memories of reading Huckleberry Finn . . . and a thought or two of Noah.
My wife and I, our youngest daughter and her husband, two grandchildren, and my elderly father rented a houseboat on Lake Shasta, California, just to get away from our busy lives in San Diego.
We cruised the expansive shoreline by day, swimming and fishing from the boat. It was equipped with a galley, so we remained aboard the whole week. Mornings began with devotions and singing. In the evening we tied up to a remote stretch of shoreline and enjoyed another time of worship.
The reward was twofold: total escape from a busy ministerial life and uninterrupted fellowship as a family. The proof it was our favorite vacation? We’re ready to do it again.
-Orval C. Butcher, pastor emeritus
Skyline Wesleyan Church
Lemon Grove, California
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