Some things really don’t change. 2,000 years ago, the Pharisees criticized Jesus’ disciples because they didn’t wash their hands before they ate. We have a lot of discussion going on about hygiene, about washing our hands, making sure our hand sanitizers are not toxic to us, wearing masks, what kind of masks, and disinfecting things as best we can. Parents and teachers are trying to figure out the best ways to have school. Researchers around the world are exploring treatments and developing vaccines. The science on all this often seems and often is conflicted as it rolls out to the rest of us. So we all have our opinions, we all have our feelings about what we should do, and especially about what “they” should do.

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In the summer of 1998 I was a CPA auditing Tri-County Addictions, the non-profit that administers state and federal alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs for Polk, Highlands and Hardee Counties. A transaction right at their year-end caught my attention. They had sold what they called the Trout Lake property.

I looked at the map and the pictures. I looked at the names of the three men who were buying it. It hit me like a thunderbolt: “They’re going to restart the camp!” (Camp Wingmann.) The three men were John White, Davis Yates and Bill Yates. Bill and his wife Joanie had been my youth group leaders over 20 years earlier in the 1970’s.

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