There was a time early in our marriage—the kids were young and we were not flush with funds—when the only sort of vacation we could afford was in our camping. We really enjoyed getting out into nature and braving the wilderness. At one point we even owned a pop-up camper, and towed it everywhere. It was fun, in a rough-n-tumble sort of way!

Then came a time when we pined for the finer things in life, and quite frankly the whole idea of roughing it absolutely lost its luster. We got rid of the camper. This came about the time of college, seminary and ministry in rapid succession. All vacations thereafter were spent with loving family. It was fun, but then we didn’t need as much time away.

One of those highly valuable lessons we learned from our camping experience was that everything was transitional—nothing remains as it is forever. Moses knew of this reality and addressed the people of Israel on their own wilderness time in Deuteronomy 23.14: ‘For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you.’

We came to view our life in the service of the Lord God as something like our camping experiences—as transitional. But the reality of God’s presence with us all of the time was very real. The price for the faithful attendance by God was also very real, as Moses concludes: ‘Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.’ God will abide with us only so long as we prepare a campground in our hearts for his holy presence.