When I lived in Kansas we attended a Friends (Quaker) camp meeting every May. It was a week long with services in the evenings. My first time there was a learning experience! I had just moved to Kansas from Oregon and I had been to camp meetings before so I was expecting something similar to what I was used to. In Kansas our house was on the edge of nowhere but to get to the camp meeting we had to drive deep into nowhere. After several miles I saw a long wide outbuilding sitting in the middle of a field in the distance but didn’t’ pay much attention to it till we slowed down and turned in. It was a long low building with a cement floor, no drywall and old-fashioned church pews in rows facing the rough stage at the front. The lighting was several hanging light blubs. There were no windows, just covered openings in the side that you could chain up to let the breeze through. The breeze and any bug or bird that happened to want to come in along with the breeze. May in that part of Kansas can be hot so the sides were chained up most evenings. The Friends referred to it as "The Tabernacle" I asked where the restroom was and was directed to a small building behind the Tabernacle. The grass had been newly mown so it was a pleasant walk out to the building. There were two doors clearly marked with a nice light overhead. I went in the proper door for a lady and immediately knew I was in an upscale outhouse. (I found out later the Tabernacle had no running water). Not a problem as I have a long history of camping out in nowheresville and have had to use some crude outhouses so this one with it’s cement floor and real toilet was pretty nice. I was a bit surprised when I lifted the lid to find a fat Rat snake curled on the rim. I had noticed a sturdy stick outside the door so I retrieved it and gave the bottom of the toilet a sharp rap to encourage the snake to move along which it did. I knew this procedure would work because many years ago my neighbor had a pet corn snake that liked to hunt mice in my chicken nests.You can't blame the snake for hanging out there as I'm sure most of the year the underside of the outhouse would make a nice snug house for a mouse or two. I went back to the Tabernacle and went on to enjoy the service. The next night we brought a lady with us who was visiting from Michigan. She was not to used to being in the country but thought the Tabernacle was "charming". Before the service began she passed me as she was going out the side door. About the time it dawned on me where she was heading, a very loud scream came from the outhouse. I had planed on warning her about the snake but it slipped my mind. (Really it did...really) Turns out it wasn’t even the snake, just a lil bitty ol mouse. When I lived in Oregon I was part of a very active church group who attended many wonderful conferences with cutting edge speakers. We were used all the fresh new praise and worship music that was coming out of Australia and England. The move of God was strong. I have to admit I wasn’t’ expecting to receive to much from a Friends campmeeting out in the boondocks seeing as how their beliefs were so different from mine and besides, they barely had a sound system. The speaker for two of the three years I attended was a retired Nazarene Pastor. The first year he stated right off his teaching was for the Body of Christ and was going to be in-depth. Boy what an understatement!!!! I had pages of notes just from just the first night. Before the service began his wife sang and he sang back up for her. Their music was from a small CD player that wouldn’t’ hook up to the sound system but the Anointing on that couple, when they sang, was amazing! The meeting just got better every night. It was so powerful I didn't want the campmeeting to end. What I received there was life changing teaching and a very sound lesson on who God is..... To be continued
Comments
Sunday, October 29, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Patti,
I'll just give this a test.......oh boy....
But I wanted to say I really enjoyed this post, just like we were there!
Tom, NF
Tuesday, October 31, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Ooo, a story! Love it! Can't wait to hear more. ~SCF
Tuesday, November 7, 2006 - Minimalism...
Posted by pubwvj
Patti, regarding your thoughts on <a href="http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2006/11/cottage-slab-poured.html">living in 252 sq-ft</a>, it was Holly, my wife (who is a Quaker), was the one who suggested something small... :) She looks forward to an experiment in minimalistic living. :) Don't change that channel! :)