Camp Meetin' Time

It's Sunday afternoon which is typically homework time for me. However in typical fashion I am watching So You Think You Can Dance and distracted from doing my homework. In an effort to stay distracted I thought oh yes, I should write a blog. So here is my distraction....

Friday night I attended an old fashioned pentecostal campmeeting. If you don't know what that is let me tell you... it usually runs from Friday to Friday at a campground that has been there for about 100 years. Many families have been coming to campmeeting for generations, they stay in cabins on the property and the whole family comes. They eat together, some as families some in groups at the camp meeting dining facility. I had a friend who had a lady that came with them every year to cook for the family in their cabins. It is quite the tradition. Many denominations, including the Methodists and the Congregational Holiness participate in this wonderful part of history.

One thing that all campgrounds have is the tabernacle. This is the place where morning and nightly services are held. Many are still open air with large rafters and open sides to let in the breeze, while some have been enclosed with modern conveniences such as A/C... which is a blessing in the sweltering GA heat.

So back to Friday night. At this particular meeting this family got up to sing- that had been singing at camp meeting for over 50 years, I admit I did an eyeroll. In spite of me loving the history of camp meeting I don't always enjoy the fact that almost 100% of the music is what most would call old fashioned. What I do know however is that God uses the most crazy things to speak to me. As this family was singing their dad, who was so feeble he was being held up by his children, sang with them. He talked about his wife who was at their cabin on the campground but unable to attend service and then began to sing about heaven. Suddenly he stood up straighter, and threw his hands up in the air, cane and all. In that moment... that one beautiful moment I saw my parents in heaven and what it must be like for them.

I don't have the when we all get to heaven gene. When my parents passed away I never understood the whole "you will see them again so have joy" mentality. I would rather see them here. But sitting in that large tabernacle, with tradition so rich you could actually see the old time religion written on the walls and feel the presence of the saints that had been there before, for the first time I felt at peace and unbelievably happy at the joy they must have at being in the presence of Jesus.

I'll be going back to camp meeting this week. I want to sit in the place where thousands have been saved through out the years and where they sing about heaven and the place where we will all meet Jesus. I think it's good for the soul.