A Blessed Life (25)
All the years of my life have been marked and blessed by the churches in my life. They provided foundation, formation and fellowship that are woven into the fabric of my being. Salem Church of Christ was home for me from birth to age 13.There I was grounded in the scriptures. Then came Mt. Carmel Christian Church where I was encouraged and allowed to preach from time to time. After college and marrying Colleen, we attended Highview Church of Christ in Louisville. There I learned much from H.E. Schreiner, a wise and most gracious pastor. Our few years of ministry at Fisherville, about which I have written, was a time of learning, especially from my youthful mistakes. Even in my season of running from God, the one anchor was the fellowship our family had in the Aetna Grove Baptist Church.
So now the saga brings us up to 1975, and Echo Valley Camp, owned and operated by Buechel Church of Christ. We were now a family of six. Our four children ranged in age from 8 to 3. We ran the camp in summer months, and I served as youth minister year round to a great group of kids. From time to time I see some of those young people who are now parents, and some even grandparents. When I talk with the ones who are doing well and still loving the Lord, I feel like John the apostle who wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”
Of course not everything during that time was deeply spiritual. I remember the night at camp another director and I got the bright idea to rent a bear costume, dress one of our big old boys in it and scare a group of ten to twelve year old campers after dark. Colleen simply told me, “This is a bad idea; you’ll be sleeping with them.” I should have listened. One cabin of boys got so scared I indeed wound up sleeping on the floor with them. Perhaps the episode could be summed up best in the words of one little fellow. He said, “This ain’t no church camp, it’s a bear camp.”
– Terry A. Morrison