Setting up Camp: Part 1

During the Summer of 2021, I had the privilege of taking my then 16 year old son, Aidan, on a backpacking trip through the Maroon Bells in the Colorado Rockies. Those four days and 28 miles were a simultaneously grueling and exhilarating journey through mountainous backcountry. They provided breathtaking views and challenging obstacles. As I reflect back on that trip, along with other outdoors experiences, I’ve come to recognize parallels between backpacking and life and ministry. Thus, the next three posts will tie together lessons learned from backpacking: Where not to camp, how to deal with having to camp in challenging places, and where it’s a good idea to pitch your tent.

Where not to camp

Anyone who has spent time off the beaten path recognizes there are certain places we are not meant to setup camp. As Aidan and I were on our most recent trip, there were a few places that stood out in this vein: the mountain passes, near some of the streams, and near some risky terrain.

The mountain passes themselves are amazing places to be. The views are spectacular and they are a fun place to stop for a bit, but there are certain risks associated with being there. If you hit those passes around mid-afternoon, you risk the lightning storms that are common at that time of day. Overnight, you are fully exposed to the elements, and you are so far above the tree line that there just isn’t cover to be found. Likewise, camping near streams seems like a good idea, and in some instances it may be, but if there has been recent rain so that the ground is saturated and it starts raining again, then you’re at risk for flash flooding. Rain and wind can cause other issues, like rockslides or avalanches depending on the time of year.

In similar ways, as Paul is talking to Timothy, he communicates that fear is one of those places we are not meant to camp out. In 2 Timothy 1:7 Paul writes, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” When it comes to the fears (present-oriented) or anxiety (fear, but future-oriented) that we face, there are two truths we must reconcile: 1) Fear and anxiety are places we pass through at different points, and 2) Fear and anxiety are never the places where we are supposed to camp out.

Both fear and anxiety are normal reactions that we have. On the third day of that backpacking trip, we had the opportunity to see three black bears, and while the first two where about 600 yards away, the third one was only about 15 yards away when I spotted it through some trees lumbering directly toward the spot on the trail my son and I were heading toward! As you can imagine, in that moment I experienced some fear in the form of the standard fight-or-flight response that is built into all of us. Fear is something we are supposed to experience. I kind of wish Adam and Eve would have experienced a bit more of it when they encountered a talking serpent. It helps us stay alive, however, pitching our tent there is not what we’re supposed to do.

When we pitch our tent in fear and stay locked in there, our bodies begin to react in new ways. That fight-or-flight response that starts by pumping adrenaline (now referred to as epinephrine) transitions to pumping out cortisol on a regular basis. Once that happens, we transition from an alarm stage to a resistance stage where we continue to attempt to live with the stressors we’re experiencing while simultaneously depleting our personal resources. Once those resources are depleted, we transition to an exhaustion stage, and in this stage a few bodily reactions happen.

• Our immune systems become compromised, and we become more prone to illness.
• By this time, we have created enough cortisol that a specific part of our brains becomes compromised – the hippocampus.
• The hippocampus is involved in forming new memories and in shutting off the cortisol production system. When it’s compromised, we don’t do either of these things well.

In other words, God did not design our bodies to camp out in fear. Also notice, as we spiral down this path, it’s usually replete with intended self-reliance, which leaves us feeling isolated and alone and breaches our relationship with Jesus. This is clearly not where we are meant to camp out.

My hope for this post is twofold. I hope it gives you a good illustration not only for you but that you can share with anyone you counsel. Second, I hope it whets your appetite for the next posts: what to do when we have to camp in challenging places, and where we’re meant to pitch our tent.