Last Child in the Woods

Saturday morning I went to a seminar that was held in the auditorium of the South Carolina State museum... which is also home to two wonderful churches in our area. (Midtown and Church of the Apostles)A man named Rob Ribby (sp) was in town from a far off winter wonderland known as Wisconsin. He is a head honcho at a camp affiliated with Wheaton college called Honeyrock. Now Honeyrcok holds a special places in my heart for a few reasons. 1.) I spent 3 days there on a backpacking trip in Dec. at nearly sub zero conditions. Loved it! I was streched and challeneged and encountered God there in a way that only sub zero weather can. 2.) One of my heroes, Rob Bell, spoke for the first time on the shores of the lake at Honeyrock. (Velvet Elvis)So, when I heard Rob was coming to town all I could says was... "what time?". I was accompanied on the excursion with my trusty friend Heath Chambers... a fellow youth ministry major and outdoor leadership minor.

I can not honestly say the speaking at the event was stellar, but the content was pure lectured Gold. The things that were said are things that make my heart alive. A call back to nature and a call back to the widlerness. It isn't some kind of macho, mountain-man syndrome. It's a real awakening that happens to my heart when I connect with nature through wilderness adventure. Rob also mentioned how our lack of intrest in the woods has affected our children... particularlly middle school students. Our students have dropped the compass and backpack and picked up x-box controllers and laptops. What could possibly come out of this besides overweight children and socially disfunctional students. There is such a need to camp ministry. There needs to be a call to parents and families to get outside and experience all that the wild has to offer.

There is a book out on this subject entitled "Last child in the woods- saving out children from nature-deficit disorder". In the book Dr. Richard Louv reports that the area around the home that children are allowed to roam has shrunk 9 times the limit set in 1970. I am passionate about this need to reconnect with nature. I believe it is a large piece in understanding our relationship to God as crea-tor and us as creat-ion.Ok... I believe I have wornout my soap box. You can bet I will be back on it soon. Until then... go outside!

Trevor