Family Retreat

Isn't this a beautiful sight? It is the view of Bass Lake from a hike we took in the woods surrounding the lake last weekend.

For years when the children were small, we never went on vacation. It seemed like so much work to get the kids and all their gear together and trecking to some faraway locale, only to have to deal with the same earaches and sleepless nights we already dealt with at home. As a result, my children were 8 and 11 before they ventured out of our county for any extended length of time.

Our first vacation was to the city of Oakhurst, California. It is just south of Bass Lake, which is not far from the south entrance to Yosemite. We fell in love with that area and have continued to visit regularly over the years. Now that both the boys in my family have discovered fly fishing, I'm sure we'll visit Bass Lake more often.

Here's my favorite picture from our weekend. I took it during that hike I mentioned earlier.

There is something in this picture that sings praise to God. It made me think of this passage in Luke 19:

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

I don't want the stones to have to do all the singing. I want to praise Him, too! We are living stones, and are called to be imitators of the first Living Stone, Jesus Christ. What a joy and a privelege it is to be called sons and daughters of God.

When you walk away from a weekend with thoughts like that, you know it was a great family retreat!