Tent camping (Part 3)

Every young boy’s life should include tent camping with his dad. It’s a way to build memories for years to come. I did with my dad (and mom), and so did Marcus Blair. Marcus led the memorial service for Gracie Coggins Kidwell last Saturday in Poteau. I had already written the first two parts of my series on tent camping, and, lo and behold, he talked about his experiences.

I never knew Marcus, but I played baseball with his dad, Danny (probably now known as Dan), and I knew that Marcus used to write for a newspaper, so we had that much in common. My step mother used to baby sit with him, too. Marcus is 30 years old and worked at the Fort Smith Times-Record for seven years, before becoming public relations director and journalism instructor at Carl Albert State College in Poteau. I never realized he was an ordained minister serving at the Monroe Baptist Church . I bet Dan is proud of him for several reasons.

Marcus delivered his message by first talking about tent camping with his dad. He said he was more into video games and computers and didn’t really look forward to camping, but his dad seemed to enjoy it, and enjoyed taking Marcus along. Once they got there he had a good time and said after the camping was over, he missed it. The tent is stored in his closet and every so often he sees it and remembers how much fun he had camping with Dan. He then related his tent story to our earthly tent, using 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 as the basis for his message.

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Cor. 5:1

I’ll never forget how much fun I had tent camping with dad and good memories of him. It also brings back memories of my life as a kid growing up in Heavener, when Russell Walker and I used to sleep in a tent in my back yard. Around 3 a.m. every morning his dad would get up to load his Holsum Bread truck parked at the Phillips 66 station on the highway. Yep, those were the good ole days when life was much simpler.