Emerging Courageous Online Magazine - Story

I love to camp - NOT! by Marsha Jordan

 
Summer's here and it's time to go camping!  No thanks, I'll pass.  I went camping once - sort of.  I slept in a tent for a few hours.  That was the extent of my camping trip and I vowed never to do it again.  That is one promise I've had no trouble keeping over the last 30 years.  I'm not a very "hardy" soul or an outdoors person.   My idea of roughing it is staying in a hotel that doesn't have a pool or provide laundry service.  
 
I've never understood how people could enjoy camping.  Why -- if you have a perfectly good, warm, soft bed at home -- would you want to sleep on the cold, hard ground outside?  Makes no sense to me.  And there are actually some people who will even  PAY someone else so that they can leave their cozy home and modern conveniences (i.e. air conditioning and warm shower) just so they can cook hotdogs on a stick, cover their bodies with smelly, cancer-causing insecticide, squeeze an entire family of six into a one-man, bug-infested  tent on a muggy night, and then lie awake shivering in the rain and swatting pigeon-size, blood-thirsty mosquitoes.
 
What is wrong with this picture?!
 
When my son was young, he and my husband once camped out in our backyard for an "adventure."   The kid made it through half the night, then at about 3 in the morning, he decided his mom had the right idea.  He snuck back into his bedroom, leaving his dad in the tent.  The following night, when the tent was empty, a bear strolled inside looking for food, apparently.  (My son had left a paper plate in there still smelling of hot dogs.)   That bear tore the tent to pieces trying to find his way out.  This is one more reason I do not camp.  I prefer not to share my sleeping quarters with anything that is hairier than my husband, thank you.
 
My idea of a vacation is lounging by the pool at a five star hotel and having room service deliver breakfast.  Better yet, I would adore staying in a Victorian Bed and Breakfast.
 
I enjoy being pampered and taking life easy.  That's one reason I'm looking forward to heaven.  I'm almost certain that there are no campgrounds there.  And I'm positive there won't be mosquitoes, snakes, outhouses, or bears.  No one-man tents,  vampire bugs, or greasy repellant. 
 
Jesus said, in John 14:2, "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you."

I can handle living in a mansion.  Heaven's my kind of place.  I definitely want to go there, and  I hope to see you there!

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Author Marsha Jordan, creator of the HUGS and HOPE Club, is a disabled grandma who cares about kids and does what she can to help them.
 
Through her "HUGS and HOPE Club," she strives to share the message with hurting families that God cares and wants to help them through struggles.
 
In a new book, author Thomas Baldrick calls Jordan a champion and compares her to Michael Jordan, saying: "She has done for the Internet what Michael Jordan has done for the game of basketball -- lifting it to a higher level."
 
The book "A Million & One Ways to Celebrate a Child"  is a powerful collection of real-life stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things for children. Jordan's story, entitled "Love, Happiness, and Sticky Peanut Butter" is one of many sources of inspiration in the book. Part of the proceeds from book sales will benefit the HUGS and HOPE Club for Sick Children.
 
To learn more about the book and the HUGS and HOPE club, visit www.hugsandhope.com

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