A Camera Flash

On Sunday, June 14 three junior high youth and I climbed into my car for our journey to camp. Four and a half hours later we arrived at Luther Springs in Hawthorne, FL – the middle of nowhere! We were excited and tired after our long drive. We unloaded the car, put on bug spray, and joined the rest of the campers for get to know you games.

At camp every evening before bed the counselors gather the kids around a campfire. At campfire we sing songs with guitar accompaniment, read scripture, and enjoy a skit that brings the scripture to life. It is my favorite time at camp. I really enjoy gazing at the coals burning in the fire pit and sitting in the dark with the stars bright above our heads. It is a time when I really want to capture the moment to share with others.

As I have learned throughout life one way to capture a moment is to take a picture. So, I got my camera out and as the counselors were about to start their evening skit I snapped a picture. Then quickly everyone around the campfire started to groan at once. The person sitting next to me says, “Nice one!”

Then I realized that the camera flash had blinded everyone around the fire at once. It was dark – and the flash was bright. I’m sure you know that moment when suddenly all you can see are little bright dots in your line of vision when you once were able to see clearly.

I think God is sometimes like a bright flash in the midst of the darkness of our lives. We think we understand and know God clearly. We finally have this faith thing figured out and then God’s light shines brightly. Unexpectedly our line of vision – our line of understanding – is blurred. When something like this happens, we tend to groan. We want to know and understand our Creator because somehow we believe this will give us comfort.

However, do we really want to understand God? I mean, if our intellect was able to grasp God… what would that say about God?

At campfire when the stars are numerous and bright above our heads I give thanks that though we do not understand God – we do get to experience God.