Thought for the week

There’s something about camping that has a timeless fascination. As a teenager I would spend two weeks every summer under canvas with the Scout troop. I didn’t have a great deal of choice, as my father was Group Scoutmaster, but I enjoyed every minute of it. There’s something special about darkness and silence each night, or being woken in the morning by a cow pushing her head through the tent door flaps!

All wonderfully enjoyable.

For many in the world today living in tents is not a holiday but the unfortunate necessity from being homeless or a refugee, often with little prospect of ever again living in a ‘proper home’.The Bible tells the story of a whole ethnic group, the Jews, being rescued from slavery in Egypt after God sent ten plagues on the Egyptians. For forty years those two million Jews walked across the deserts of the Middle East under Moses’ leadership, camping in tents. Only two of those who left Egypt survived to enter the Promised Land we now call Israel, along with the children and grandchildren of the original refugees.

Even today the Jewish people mark these events by putting up temporary shelters for the Feast of Tabernacles, or ‘Succot’ in Hebrew. For Christians it is a reminder that Jesus left His permanent home with His Father and came to earth to ‘tabernacle’ with His people. While on earth He had no home of His own and, after His death and resurrection, returned to His home in Heaven. One day He will return to planet earth to rescue from this corrupt world all those who have put their trust in Him. Are you ready for that?