Birds Are Jerks Part 2 (Camping)

So, about a few weeks ago I went camping at the amazing Shenandoah River in Virginia.  Our campsite was right up on the river, absolutely stunning!  Kids were able to go into the clear shallow waters and have a ton of fun.  Everything was amazing.  Caught a ton of smallmouth bass on topwater.  Always amazing to see fish jump out of the water to get your fishing lure.  Such a rush of emotions!  We had some Korean pork belly for dinner, such a great evening.  It was a lot of work, setting up camp, playing with kids, making sure they are happy, getting ready for dinner, cooking, and cleaning up, just a lot of work that goes into “enjoying” camping.

Sleeping was great because it was so quiet, kids fell asleep better in the tent than in their beds at home.  Which makes me wonder if all I have to do to get the kids to sleep easily is set up the tent in the backyard and have them sleep in sleeping bags.  Or maybe they are just more comfortable sleeping without a bed mattress?  I have no idea. 

I remember praying and falling asleep praying.  Yeah… it was that comfortable of a camping experience! 

Then came very early in the morning.  And all I remember was hearing a crow yell in my ear, “HEY!!!!”  That’s what it sounds like.  It sounded like the crow was just right outside our tent.  It scared the heck out of me.  I figured, ok, that crow is gone right?  Wrong!  Once again, “HEY!!!”  By this time our dog Suzie is up, Eunkyung is up, and I am trying not to get up.  But this dang crow was relentless!  “HEY!!!”  OK! I am up! 

I quickly got dressed and opened the tent.  And I saw a glimpse of the pesky crow.  What’s his dang problem!  No need to yell right?

But to be honest, I am glad that crow rudely woke me up, because I had a chance to enjoy the river, the smell, the sun, the fog that is over the land, and again the peace and quiet.  Amazing.

It makes me wonder that sometimes to get to the point of quiet and peace in our life we need a bit of a wake me up.  Or maybe we need a loud interruption so that God can redirect our attention to something amazing.  That something amazing is the peace and quiet we sometimes need but do not know where to find it.  All we need is something to yell, “HEY!!!” to us so we can wake up from our slumber and see, feel, and sense something else; that is peace.  

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