Friday Night’s Campout

My senior year of high school began with multiple goals and a change in outlook. I had decided to make better decisions regarding what I did with my free time and the places I frequented. I was blessed to be welcomed into a group that spent their weekends shooting hoops and having good clean teenage fun with a standard of high morals and meaningful values.  
One Friday morning at school, I asked one of my guy friends what our group was doing for fun that weekend. He told me I was on my own because the boys were all going camping- no girls allowed! While pretending to not to, I listened in on their conversation at lunch outlining the details of their campout including a specific description of where the site was located. 
I cannot explain the compromised thought process that resulted in me dragging along a girlfriend and heading out of town on an unfamiliar course to crash their “man” camp-out. We left a bit late into the evening and I certainly wasn’t prepared for any problems finding their campsite. Nevertheless, I took a wrong turn on a darkened road in Allegheny National Forest. What I thought was the road to find my friends,  was actually just a few car lengths long. It was a short paved easement from the county road to a farmer’s road. Without realizing my mistake until it was too late, my turn left us stuck in a muddy field. 
My friend and I immediately jumped out and assessed how stuck we truly were. “Think…think..think…” I impatiently told myself. I tried turning the wheels to the left and to the right. I had watched my mom drive in snowy southwest Iowa, noting she was pretty good at getting herself free from deep snow. I tried to use similar skill sets in my current pickle, but with no success. We were clearly stuck -and with every unsuccessful attempt in getting free, I feared we were only getting ourselves into a deeper problem.
I had thought about praying for help several times during my crisis. I had failed to gather enough faith to even try- knowing my troubles were due to my own mistakes and a slew of rules I had broken. Looking around at the increasingly darkening skies and at my friend whom I felt bad for leading astray, I decided I had no choice. I starred off into the horizon and said a silent prayer asking for help.  
An idea immediately came to my mind to take the floor mats from the backseat and wedge them underneath my back tires. The mud was thick. I was filthy. My friend was equally filthy. We got in the car. I said another quick silent prayer and slowly and carefully stepped on the gas. The car climbed out of the deep ruts and I slowly turned it around and back onto the asphalt easement. My friend and I looked at each other in disbelief. We were free! We got out to slosh back through the mud to get the back seat floor mats. It was pitch dark. We did not have flashlights and despite tireless efforts, we only ever found one. I feared the punishment momentarily but relished in greater gratitude instead.  
My friend and I stopped at a gas station, cashed in our dollars for quarters and spent a long time at the nearby car wash trying to erase any proof of my evening antics from my family’s car. After a second trip back inside for more quarters, and a second round of soap and water, we deemed our work pretty impressive including a soaking wet, but perfectly clean back seat floor mat.  
It was a long drive home from my friend’s house and well past curfew. I retraced the evening’s events in my head. It all began with a terrible idea, proceeding quickly to a poorly thought out plan. However, I had been rescued. My desperate prayer was quickly answered and I was freed from the stress, anguish and inner turmoil of my poor choices. I remember connecting a few dots of thoughts on my drive home. My evening had played out similar to an analogy in a repentance lesson from church.  
Mistakes lead to the desire for change. Humility and prayer brought in God’s help. (His perfect love provided us a Savior to literally rescue us from our wrongdoings, and the filth of sin.) The relief I felt when I was safely driving home in a clean car continued to deepen the analogy of being cleansed from sin.
I arrived home. Mom hardly woke when I came in saying nothing about the early morning hour. I took a long hot bath and threw my clothes in the washing machine. 
The car was clean.
My clothes were clean.
I was clean.
With the exception of a missing floor mat, there was no evidence of any wrong-doing. However, there was a standard of measurement secured. I knew the importance of repentance and now I knew through a personal analogy exactly what steps to take to be clean and feel peace. For the remainder of my senior year until I left for college, an occasionally mentioned missing floor mat by a backseat passenger reminded me of my experience and the ensuing lessons. Not a bad trade off….To better understand Christ’s willingness to rescue me…

-JC

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup soft butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 XL eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup dark cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups combination of peanut butter chips, chocolate chips and/or Reese’s Pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium high for 1 minute or until fluffy.. Hand stir in eggs and vanilla; don’t overmix. Add dry ingredients all at once and mix until fully incorporated. Add an additional 2 Tablespoons flour for high elevation. Stir in chips/ Reese’s Pieces. Scoop out approximately 24 2” balls of dough. Gently roll. For a richer flavor and smoother texture, form cookie dough balls, flatten slightly, and refrigerate or freeze until ready to bake. Place on greased or parchment paper on an aluminum cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 12 min. Let set! Share!


-JC