Hale’s on Adventure

Our Campsite at Williston Crossings RV Resort

           Three years ago, God put it on our heart that we were to move into a camper as “full-timers”.  We didn’t know much about this particular lifestyle, but we were excited to discern Gods leadership in this direction.  And so, our journey began. We purchased a 26 foot Dutchman Travel Trailer with a super slide.  Having grown up camping in tents and a 6’X  9’ pop-up 1960 Nimrod camper, we thought we were moving into a “mansion”. 

          Our first year was an adventure.  We laughed about the night we flooded the camper because we had closed the gray water tank accidentally.  We laughed when the night temperature dropped to 25 degrees and we ran out of propane. We laughed at ourselves as the seasoned full-timers discovered some of our “new to the life-style” mistakes.  It was all an adventure, and God kept our sense of humor sharpened.

            During our second year we felt seasoned in the ways of the camping experience, and began to enjoy the status of “belonging”.  God opened many ministry opportunities as we made friends among the other campers

Williston Crossings Front Gate

who came and went here at Williston Crossings.  We were among the very few who stayed year-round, and so we became “fixtures.”  This meant we were available when a family came to stay while their new-born infant was being treated at a local hospital.  We were able to assist a family when their home burned and they stayed at the campground during repairs.  God allowed us to meet, pray with, and encourage many couples who came for 6 months at a time while one of them underwent cancer treatments at local hospitals.  There were those friends who came to our park having been married many years, but left after the death of a beloved spouse.  God allowed us to be instruments of His peace during those difficult times. 

            Year three began with anticipation of new things ahead.  My husband retired from full-time pastoral ministry, we both were teaching at a Christian school down the road, and we began to travel more often, visiting in churches all over the state of Florida.  We sensed that change was in the air…and our camping adventure was beginning to conclude.  Restlessness began nettling our hearts that perhaps it was time to move into more conventional housing during the up-coming school year.  We began to refer to our camper as “the box” and knew that our full-time status was soon to conclude.  Still, we worked on our flower gardens, landscaping, and little place in the woods. There were yet things we needed to understand about our full-timer experience.  And so, we continued until we had completed our third year. 
            Today is our last day here in our camper.  With confidence, we know that God will use this experience in our future ministries.  But for now, we will be leaving the beautiful Williston Crossings RV Resort to live temporarily in a small apartment in Dunnellon, Florida.  We are referring to this apartment as “our big camper.”  We can only guess what God wants to do in our lives in this new place we will call home.
            When the Bible instructs us to “Trust in the Lord with all [our] heart and lean not to [our] own understanding, in all [our] ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct [our] paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6), we can depend on Him to do just that. So stay tuned on the new adventures of Hales in Ministry in Dunnellon, Florida.

Tabernacle at Williston Crossings

Williston Crossings RV Resort Pavillion at Dusk

I live in an RV Resort.  The management calls this place the “pavilion”.  It is here that events are held; weddings, dances, cookouts, family reunions – whatever the residents want to host. 
              For me in the quiet of the early dusk hour, I gaze upon this place as a tabernacle in the woods.  I am far removed from Williston as I witness the spectacular beauty of “the tabernacle” and remember another tabernacle from my youth.  It was there at the Camp Joy Bible Conference in Brownsville, Kentucky that every August from 1963 until 2000, I spent an activity-packed weekend with teens from across the nation.  My first weekend I myself was only a child; my last, I was the mother of three grown children. 
              What beautiful memories of the quiet times spent on those hillsides, and then the trek down into the valley to sit in the tabernacle for the evening-time of preaching and singing.  As the night-time gathered her orchestration of crickets, tree-frogs, and the lonely hoot of an owl, the light slowly faded from the horizon.  The worshippers were surrounded in a cocoon of night-time fog.  The dampness of dew was refreshing after the heat of the day.
           Many of the decisions which have directed my paths, and brought purpose to my life, were made in that old tabernacle.  Tonight, just seeing this beauty before me here at Williston, I have joy in remembering.

Look Up

Psalm 121:1 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.”

Friendship

           While cleaning my flower garden the other day, I saw my garden stone, given to me by a dear friend many years ago.  She and I had worked together during a stressful time in both our lives, and God used that friendship to gird us up and better prepare us to face the rough seas.  Looking at that stone, I was reminded of the verses from Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”
         I’ve been blessed by many precious friendships throughout my life and as I post this “Moment in Time”, my mind is actively calling up from the past, the many faces of those dear friends.  “As iron sharpens iron, so one [person] sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).  As I think of some of those friendships, I recognize that God sent them to me to make me become a better person.  One friendship from long ago was that of encouragement and understanding.  In 1987, I wrote of that friendship, “

Treasured Moments
Some here, some there
Along the journey of life,
Over a period of time -

Shared experiences,
 trials,
joys and sorrows 

These moments, when gathered together
Create a fragrant bouquet which we call –

Friendship. 

             Today as I reflect upon the journey of life, I pause to thank God for the many blessings God has sent me in the form of friends.  In every church where my husband and I have served, we’ve established life-long friends.  We have dear friends who have made their homes in foreign lands for the purpose of serving the Lord as full-time missionaries.  Precious friendships have been established in neighborhoods where we’ve lived, in the schools where I’ve taught, in our RV Park, in jobs where God has placed us.  Though we seldom see many of these friends, they are ever near to our hearts.
            Acquaintances come and go throughout our lives, but friendships – they are the fragrant bouquet that enriches our lives forever.  Sometimes a friend is given to us as a gift for a season, sometimes for a lifetime, but all are treasures, and gifts from God. I thank God today, for you, my dear friends.

Mothers and Daughters

Our oldest daughter, Rhonda, with her oldest daughter,Cassidy, holding her new little baby sister, MaKayla

Sometimes when I look through my pictures, I discover one that needs no story, no words, no explanation.  This was one of those “moments in time” to just rejoice and remember.

Contemplation

Oldest grandson, Brandon, at Paines Prairie State Park, Florida

“And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever” (Isaiah 32:17).

 ”And that ye study to be quiet,…”(1 Thessalonians 4:11).

When I stand in awe of creation, I understand the meaning of STUDY to be quiet.  At home with all the distractions of daily living, I forget to study on ways to be quiet, meditate, worship, and stand in awe of the majesty of God.

Lord, help me be diligent to become a student of quietness – regardless of the hectic pace which surrounds all my daily routines and responsibilities.

Birthday Celebration

Happy Birthday precious daughter. We celebrated your special birthday here in this picture – your 4th birthday – and each year on this 3rd day of August, we celebrate another year of joy in the gift of your life. We love you and are so proud of you. Each and every day is a gift from God, and we rejoice that He sent you to us. Happy Birthday, dear.

Be Prepared

This afternoon as my husband and I whizzed past this construction sign, we mused over the possible sentence completion.  Be prepared to…die?  …meet Thy God?… turn….be amazed…be amused…or maybe play Chinese Fire Drill?  The obvious last word would be  “stop.”  But we had much more fun making up our own endings.  I chose “be prepared to live, and live abundantly.  Jesus said, ” the thief cometh to steal, to kill, and to destroy, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”  (John 10:10).

Walking by Faith

Taking a hike through the woods we came upon this boardwalk. There were no sign posts to tell us where it would lead, how long the trail, or what we would see along the way – yet the invitation was clearly there. COME. There was no guesswork on where to place my footsteps….just stay on the path. Sometimes in my Christian walk, I find myself on a walk into the unknown. It is those times that I must “walk by faith, and not by sight.” I merely need to “stay on the path.”

Intricate Design

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He hath made everything beautiful in its time;…”