Camp Idlewood | Wayfarer

A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar; it shall not go out.
Leviticus 6:13 (NRSV)

My family vacationed at the same place every year. Camp Idlewood on Rainy Lake in Minnesota was where we spent two weeks in early August every summer. There was a campfire pit just outside the boathouse and a fire was lit every night as families gathered around to swap stories, sing songs, and enjoy each other’s company.

As childhood gave way to the tween and teen years, we were allowed to stay later and later at the campfire. Eventually the parental unit would head to bed and we were allowed to hang out at the campfire until the wee hours of the night. Occasionally the wee hours gave way to dawn and we would still be there huddled around the fire pit.

I remember those nights watching the fire evolve from blazing bonfire to glowing embers. Still, we would stoke it and tend it and keep it going through the watches of the night as conversations continued, friendships were forged, and camp romances occasionally were sparked to life and then quickly went out.

I thought about that campfire as I read this morning of the ancient sacrificial fires prescribed by God through Moses. They kept going. Wood was added. The embers were stoked. The spiritual conversation and relationship continued around the fire.

This morning I’m reminded that my worship, my sacrifice, and my offering to God is not a compartmentalized act confined to a Sunday morning. It is a campfire in my spirit which does not go out. Every day, every stretch of the journey it blazes, it ebbs, and I tend to it; I stoke the embers into flame again and again. God and me perpetually around the fire through the watches of the night, into the wee hours, and on to the dawn.

As I was sorting a bunch of old family photographs, Taylor grabbed this one. She stared at it for a long moment before asking me what on earth was on her Grandpa Dean’s nose. Ha!

This photo was taken in the early to mid-1970s on the boundary waters between Minnesota and Canada. It’s where our family vacationed every year at a place called Camp Idlewood. Dad spent his two weeks of vacation fishing as much as he possibly could (notice my mother’s “How long are we going to be out here?” posture – not to mention her courageous attempt to mix stripes and polka-dots) and that meant his pasty white CPA’s skin was exposed to the sun’s rays for a lot longer than usual. A painfully sunburned nose was usually result.

I’m not sure who discovered the wonder cure. It was a plastic triangle that clipped onto the bridge of dad’s sunglasses and covered his nose, protecting it from the sun. My dad and both my grandfathers got one and wore them all day while they were out fishing. If you look closely you can even see the chic little red jewel that adorned the middle of it.

For some reason, the fad (fake jewel and all) never caught on. I can’t remember my dad wearing it for more than a summer or maybe two. BUT, if you want to look as stylin’ as my dad did back in the day then today is your lucky day, my friend, because you can still buy one on Amazon: