Right in the middle of all of it was a giant staircase that led up to the dorms. There was also a large fireplace, with many couches around it, and off to the right was entry into the cafeteria and music rooms. The year before last my best friend Matt had bought me a little pin that said “My best friend is a carpenter”, which was meant as a play on words by him… because Christ is a carpenter, and my Father was as well. You could buy anything Christian-niche there. Everything is polished and looking brand new. When you first walk into the hotel, there is a giant lobby made of all oak. High summer camp, and it was held in the same place. I knew this hotel well, because I had been sent to both years of Jr. The first thing you see when the bus pulls in, is this very old, Victorian-style hotel. It is rocky, and densely packed with trees of all kinds. And it did so continually from before I can remember, until 9th grade “Jesus Camp”.Ĭamp was set up in the Mountains surrounding Chico, California. To me, he sounded more like the boogeyman than a friend. I never got to inspect the hands and feet of Christ after the crucifixion on Golgotha. Angels never moved a stone aside for me so I could inspect an empty grave, so to speak. Why was God so mean and vindictive? Why would he send plague after plague to the followers of a man who was being contradictory? Why would he kill an entire city, and turn a woman into a pillar of salt just for looking back? Why should I be scared of him now? I have never seen him, or heard him. Even from my early days in Sunday School learning about how Moses parted the Red Sea and then let it crash down on his former captors, or Noah watched as everyone except his own children died by drowning.Ī lot of things didn’t make sense to me. My beliefs were always called into question.
You know what? That is a lie, and I cannot write that in good faith… no pun intended. These were all realities to me- and my faith never wavered. Miraculous healing, speaking in tongues, God’s voice speaking through people, Jesus Camps, and Christian School.