Week 286: New Places

Wonder on a trip to a wooded camp in Michigan…

Each Sunday, my wife and I cook and eat a meal together — intentionally. Every Friday, I’ll be sharing our experience here in this space. I want to see the growth that will come in our marriage because of this. I hope you enjoy our story. You can find last week’s post here.

We turned off the road that weaved around a Michigan lake onto a wooded drive with a sign out front. Camp Friedenswald. I had never been here before, but still it felt comforting. Sunlight dancing through tree leaves will do that.

Our church was meeting here this morning for a lakeside baptism service. We’d have an afternoon of free activities around the camp after. Sarah and I drove up together, following our friends. We parked, grabbed our things, and set up our chairs on the beach.

The service was beautiful — sunlight glinting off the water. Now, it wasn’t all roses. That sunlight brought with it heat too. But, thankfully, I was able to focus more on the sunlight than the heat this day.

After the service, we moved our chairs over to a shady spot under a tree just down the beach. We had so many of our friends sitting around us. And then we brought out the snacks we had packed earlier that morning.