Sorry for the delay in blogging - I've been out of town at Ladies' Camp! I always think it's funny to tell people that, especially people under, say, 45. They always seem to say things like, "Oh, Ladies' Camp - wow, sorry about that," like I have recently contracted some sort of incurable disease. I'm always rather surprised. Ladies' Camp, while not for everyone, sure, is usually quite a nice weekend. Unlike Youth events or retreats, there is no compulsion to attend all the small electives, so I get rather more Jesus time than at home, and I also get to go to bed at a reasonable hour (unless I choose to stay up way too late laughing until the tears come with a couple of crazies - er, I mean, lovely ladies - from 614 in Vancouver. It happens.....).

Anyway, I digress. This wasn't actually intended to be about Ladies' Camp, but now that I'm there, let me tell you a little story - not a profound story, really, but still a story.


Being often the youngest person at church events (outside of the Youth, when they are present), and always the youngest gal at Ladies' Camp, I have the honour of always being given a top bunk on which to sleep. Fair enough, I suppose; lots of ladies have physical limitations, and I am pretty limber, though have been at times inclined to fall out of bed in the early morning when trying to get up and missing a ladder rung or two. Nevertheless, I do often have to sleep on the top bunk. It's not really a big deal, but when I want to sit and read or journal on the computer in the afternoons at Camp, a top bunk does become rather inconvenient. Well, let's be honest, it's kind of a pain in the butt.

So this year, when I arrived at camp and realized that I was able to have a bottom bunk on the first night because of the availability of rooms, I was thrilled. And then even more blessed when the gal I was sharing a room with offered to move to the top bunk when our extra person came in the next night (there were two bunk beds in our little room). Nice!

So the first day and night came and went, and as my roomie and I were napping the second afternoon, our extra lady came in and I woke up to hear her and one other person in the hallway speaking of the necessity of shifting "the young ones" up to the top bunks. Uh-oh. Two ladies. I'm going to have to move after all. And though I usually just accept that this will be normal until I have some problem that keeps me from getting up to the top bunk (like sleepwalking - can you imagine?), this time something in me snapped and I rebelled. Utterly and completely. I was so ticked off that I was going to have to move - that it was always assumed that I didn't mind getting up to the top bunk and sleeping in the rafters. (Now that I even write that, it's laughable, and I'm rather ashamed to admit that this was my thought process.....) But rebel I did, and though I knew that the result would not change, I was not happy about it.

So I did a little processing with Jesus, and to make a long story short, He basically told me that HE was going to be on the top bunk, and did I still desire the bottom bunk even though I couldn't actually have it? You can imagine that this news changed my opinion of where I wanted to sleep. So much so, that I moved all my stuff before the two ladies came back to the cabin, and arranged everything in the room to accommodate them.

The irony? They actually decided to sleep in a cabin all the way across the camp, and I was left with only myself and my original roommate.

The decision? Can't you guess? I slept on the top bunk anyway, and had a great night.

The real irony? On the third (and last) night, when I could have changed again to the bottom bunk, I stayed up so late with my crazy (and beautiful) friends that every light in my cabin was out and I had to feel my way to my room and to bed in utter darkness. There was no chance to change my stuff around without waking my roommate, so I slept on the top bunk again.

The lesson? That Geography doesn't matter. That God's presence matters. More so, that heart attitude matters. That "giving up" the bottom bunk in frustration and irritation is not really a good gift or servanthood in its proper sense at all. And that you can sleep just as well on the top bunk, and perhaps learn a lesson or two along the way about faithfulness to God's call to lay down our lives - and our sleeping arrangements - for our friends.


(I'm away again for a few days next weekend, if you don't see me updating for a few days. This time it is a Youth event - so reasonable bedtimes are to be abandoned! Though I will likely get a bottom bunk!)