oops!,uh-oh! and you've got to be kidding!

If you've ever been camping, you know that things don't always go as planned. Gary Smalley, pastor, author, and speaker, says that one reason camping is such a wonderful family activity is that the opportunity to work through the mishaps brings you closer together. We've been camping since our kids were small so we know this to be true... and this trip was no exception!


Wednesday-when we checked in, they had no record of our reservation.So, we did not get the waterfront site we had wanted. The one we got was fine and probably better in some respects (closer to the bath house and the beach area and a better view), but it did get things off to a disappointing start.

Thursday- we took Hubby's fishing boat with us expecting it to be tethered at our site, but since we were not waterfront, it was about 50 feet away. When he went to check on it, someone had stolen his tackle box and a box of lures. We have been camping for 28 years and have never had anything stolen, When you camp, you have to trust people because you just can't lock everything up. So, again, this was disappointing. Thursday afternoon, we took the boat ride to the largest beach area on the lake. When we started to set our canopy up to give us some shade, we saw that it was broken. Allrighty then, we just put on more sunscreen! After a few hours, we saw (and heard!) a storm coming. So, we loaded up the boat and headed back to the campground. Well, the rain came quickly...not hard but combined with the wind from Hubby going at top speed to get us "home", it made for a wild ride! We got to our camper just as the "bottom fell out" so we were grateful for that!

Friday- we spent several hours at the small beach area at the campground. The grandson was playing with some other boys...having a good time. Then one of the boys threw a rock and it connected with t our boy's left eyebrow! He has a nice little cut about an inch long. It could have been worse, but I never want our grands to get hurt on "my watch"!
Friday night, about 1:00 a.m., a terrible thunderstorm hit. For about an hour, we had LOUD thunder and lightening, torrential rain and wind. Hubby said about 2 inches of rain fell during that time. As you might imagine, all three of us were in one bed for a while! Some folks had damage, we were grateful that we didn't. The wind hit us from the end of our pop-up, rather than the side. If we had been on the water front site, it might have been a different story.

So, we had many opportunities to respond or to react....to complain or to look for the thing to be grateful for...to be angry or to give thanks.  In Ephesians, Paul talks about "giving thanks in all things." He didn't mean we should be grateful for the bad things but to be grateful for the assurance that God is using it for our good...to protect us, or teach us, or just to remind us of all we have to be grateful for! It is always comforting to know that He is in control...especially during the oops!, uh-oh's and you've-got-to-be-kiddings! :-)

We did have a good time...lots of fun and laughter and we made it home safely! I'll share that part of the story next time!