What Is That Smell?

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone camping. Now, I don’t really considering staying a cabin to really be camping, but it’s the closest I’ve come in quite a few years.

This weekend was a really good one. I left with a friend at about 3pm to head ‘up north’. We made a stop at Birch Run to walk around and do a little shopping. We went to dinner at Pizzeria Uno, then headed up. We got there at about 8:15pm; there were about 10 people there already. By about 9:30 or so everyone was there, about 40 people.

We had a bonfire each night. The ‘keeper of the fire’ did an impressive job with keeping the fire big and hot. Saturday night’s fire was so hot that the flames were actually blue. I felt like I was sitting on planet Mercury warming myself by the sun.

We had three study sessions on Saturday, and one on Sunday morning. The topic was very interesting. We talked about Jesus’ presence through out the Old Testament. The pastor that led the discuss showed us how to read the writings of the prophets and constantly ask the question, where is Jesus in this. In particular we read through Psalm 1, and analyzed it verse by verse. It was pretty interesting. This is apparently one of the approaches that Luther took in his studies.

Anyway, like I said the weekend was really good. I met lots of people that I didn’t know. I met a couple people that I went to high school with, and one person that I haven’t seen since I was in school at St John.

The one and only low point of the weekend was an unidentifiable aroma that almost visibly hung in the air of one of the guys bunk rooms. The question most heard in that room was ‘what is that smell’?
The weather was hot and sticky. The air in the room was heavy with musty humid moldy smells, along with the sweat that naturally occurs in that weather. Being in the woods we were all wearing bug spray, which added another layer to the smell. The smell of smoke from the bonfires was also distinguishable. What wasn’t distinguishable was several other layers of odor that I think I am a better person for not knowing their source.

We left on Sunday right after lunch. We made it home by about 4 or so. The first thing I did was jump in the shower, and throw my clothes in the laundry, to get rid of ‘that smell’. I had a few people come over to watch the Pistons game. A couple that I met at the retreat came over as well as a couple other friends. As the game progressed ‘that smell’ became detectable again, but this time it was coming through the TV and it’s source was down in San Antonio, Texas.