I was very blessed to spend the last week at Camp Wingmann, serving as chaplain as I have done every summer since 2004. I always find that week to be among the very best weeks that I have every year for one simple reason. There are a lot of pieces that point to that one simple reason: great worship time, joyful music, the delight of watching children enjoy their time together under the mantle of learning more about their faith including prayer, watching the staff function and grow in their capacity for leadership. And, there’s lots of comfort food!

All of those point to the one thing. It is this: Camp Wingmann is what the Celtics would refer to as a “thin place,” where the veil between heaven and earth is thin. We are blessed anytime we get to visit such places. The Church of the Good Shepherd is one of those places.

As many of you know, Deacon John and I are just back from a 10-day trip to the Holy Land. Our primary focus was on all of the places we went and the biblical history that had unfolded all around us and even under our feet.

We also ate different foods there. Israel has a Mediterranean diet, a lot like Greek food, and they are kosher. I knew a little about the kosher diet, no pork or shell fish, but it was quite different to be immersed in it. For example, Jews may not eat dairy products at the same meal with meat. Dairy is fine, just not with meat. So, there is a general rule in Israel. Everywhere we went there was no dairy in the evening and there was no meat at breakfast. Not only no bacon, or ham or pork sausage, of course, but there was no meat at all at breakfast. We adapted, but we missed bacon. One of our group actually texted me a picture of frying bacon the morning after we returned.