When I was three—in 1945—my dad helped to form Camp Michawana in central West Michigan.  This was the camp that was first begun in the late thirties by Lance Latham, the founder of AWANA clubs.  Dad continued on the board for at least thirty years, staying with it long enough for me to eventually join him on the board—which I considered a great joy and honor.

Bible camps were a vital part of my education and my spiritual formation from age three until my senior year in high school (by which time I was counseling).  Part of my love for the outdoors and God’s creation came from my camp experiences.  But I have to confess that learning about the natural world in those camp settings was mostly by osmosis: it’s what I was able to soak up unintentionally.  Thinking back on those experiences, I find it disheartening that there was virtually no deliberate outdoor education offered, and as I recall, nothing was ever said about the natural setting of these camps as a “revelation of God.”  Certainly nothing was taught about our being good stewards of God’s creation.  In those days the outdoors was seen by the vast majority of Christians as little more than a collection of “natural resources” that we had a right to use in whatever way we wished.

It wasn’t until I visited Timber-lee Christian Center decades later that I had first-hand experience with a camp that incorporated outdoor education as a part of its camp curriculum—a program instituted in large part by outdoor educator and fellow creation-care advocate Mike Manke.  Yesterday I surfed on over to the Christian Camp and Conference Association Website and learned that there are at least 165 Christian camps and conference centers listed there that offer outdoor education.  That’s great!  But that’s still less than 20 percent of the 900 camps and conferences that are members.  And that’s sad.  It’s my feeling that every Christian camp and conference center should have some sort of outdoor education as a part of its program.  They offer the ideal setting to teach about both of God’s “two books”: the Bible (His special revelation) and the creation (His general revelation).  Read the post about “God’s Two Books” from November 1 here.

If you or the young families in your life have never sent a child to a Christian camp, this is the right time of the year to make plans to do just that.  Check out the camps that are members of the CCCA or those that are a part of the denomination you are affiliated with.  And I would encourage you to find one that incorporates Bible based outdoor education as a formal part of its curriculum.  If you already have a favorite camp and it does not have outdoor education, why not send them a note or email and request that they add it to their program.

You might also send them these links to our RBC Discovery Series booklets on “Celebrating the Wonder of Creation” and let them know that they can order these in bulk as handouts or for small group Bible studies dealing with the theology of nature:

• Celebrating The Wonder Of A Tree
• Celebrating The Wonder Of Creation
• Celebrating The Wonder Of Soil
• Celebrating The Wonder Of The Wilderness
• Celebrating The Wonder Of Water

NOTE TO GRANDPARENTS: One of the most important things you can do for your grandchildren is help send them to camp.  If the parents can’t afford it, you might be able to help them financially.  That would be a gift better than a dozen toys!

See you outdoors!

Dean

There are several new ideas on the “Wonder Kids” page
from the pages of Richard Louv’s book,
Last Child in the Woods.
Take a look.

It’s our desire to see the “Wonder Kids” page become a sort of community for parents, grandparents, and other caregivers where there is a good deal of idea sharing.  We have added a response box at the bottom of the “Wonder Kids” page where you can suggest ways to help children learn about God’s creation and develop a biblical worldview regarding the care of creation.

Click on the “Wonder Kids” menu item at the top of this page, and when you get there, scroll down to the bottom to find the comments box where you can make these suggestions.

On my three-quarter-mile walk between home and work are a number of office buildings, a home for the elderly, and a couple dozen condos. But to my great joy, an abandoned orchard extends out about six acres from the middle of my route.  I call it “my orchard” because I hardly ever see anyone else in it.  I see their traces though: mostly piles of landscaping waste, litter from an old vagrant’s hideout, and some bittersweet vines robbed by folks like me who use bittersweet for fall decorating.  My most frequent outdoor adventures are in this old orchard—my own little playground, which I sometimes share with our grandchildren.

Along the condo drive is a long row of Austrian pines, red pines, and some Colorado spruce.  The cones from the Austrian pines are about avocado size—which is the perfect kicking size.  So I will sometimes target one poised and ready on the asphalt and kick it some 300 yards all the way home—just like I kicked cans when I was a kid.  It gives me great satisfaction when I can keep it rolling pretty much in a straight line.  Nonetheless, I do zigzag quite a bit.  The other day, in fact, I almost zigged right into one of our neighbors walking the other way.  She and her husband often, shall a say, look “askance” at this old dude with white chin whiskers who seems to have entered and gone deeply into his second childhood—what with my also climbing the pine trees to collect oozing pitch for my homemade wood preservative, or my standing in the drive chattering at the red squirrels or mimicking the cardinals and robins to see what kind of reaction I get.

What I don’t know is how many askance looks I get from inside those office buildings when I venture off into what they probably view as just another “empty” lot waiting for a building.  (I’m thinking about chaining myself to a sumac bush or something if I see the bulldozers coming!  I suppose I could build a protest platform on the top of the orchard’s tallest tree like Julia Butterfly Hill did in her redwood.  But a sparse 20-foot walnut is not very regal—and I don’t think I can get wireless out there.)

But back to my kicking the pine cone.  It brought to mind a little quiz I sometimes do with school kids—and even at times with my colleagues at RBC.  The conifer cone test.  I thought maybe y’all might like to take it.  Below is a photo of six different cones.  The largest, rather foreshortened in the picture, is actually a foot long without the stem.  The smallest is about a half inch.  The cones come from a white pine, a ponderosa pine, a sequoia, a Douglas fir, a redwood, and a sugar pine.  Here’s the object of the quiz: see if you can match the cone to the tree—without going to Google images or Flickr!

I’ll give you the answers tomorrow.

See you outdoors!

Dean

Click on the photo to see it full size