Case Study on Time with the Newlywed Couple

              The electronics’ warehouse that was Manny’s primary job was having a slow down in production and inventory.  Manny had accumulated a weeks worth of paid time off and Raffi, Manny’s best friend, convinced him that they should do something special like take their wives camping for that week.  Ysebel’s was very skeptical about Raffi’s idea.  She had never camped out in nature before and wasn’t sure how safe it would be.  But Manny reassured her that people do stuff like this all the time, and he promised her that it would be wonderful fun, so she went along, against her better judgment. 

              Manny went out and bought tents, back packs, sleeping bags, canteens, and camping tools at the sporting goods store.  He wasn’t quite sure of everything he needed so he and Raffi got together and brainstormed what they thought would come in handy.  Their bare necessities included matches, axes and saws for cutting wood, iron skillets and an oven rack to cook on.    They planned cooking pancakes each morning and they could grill potatoes and hot dogs for their suppers.  For snacks they would have marshmallows, graham crackers and candy bars.  They studied a map and found a state park up in the mountains about a six hour drive outside of town.  It had a lake and backpacking trails, it looked perfect.  They had gathered everything they needed and they were ready to go.

              They arrived early Sunday morning at the ranger station.  Manny and Raffi were excited about the tall green trees, the birds singing and the fresh clean air.  Ysebel and Maria were discussing what kind of wild animals might be hiding behind every bush and rock.  The ranger told them it was a seven mile hike to the campsite by the lake and the rules were that they had to stay on the trails and could only camp and build a fire in designated camp sites.  Manny and Raffi studied the trail map and figured that they could make it to the lake in about five hours.  They filled their backpacks and off they went.  They didn’t get very far before they realized that their backpacks were extremely heavy and they needed to take multiple breaks to sit and rest and remove their packs to relax their backs.  

              The other thing they discovered was walking up hill in sneakers on stony dusty trails did not provide a lot of traction and they were often slipping and sliding down the hill faster than they were climbing up.   Getting up the trail proved to take much longer than they had anticipated, it was late afternoon and they were starving and according to the trail map it looked as if they had only traveled a couple of miles.  Ysebel and Maria were no longer worried about wild animals attacking them.  As a matter of fact a bear or a mountain lion would have been a welcome site to put them out of their misery. 

              They could not cook any food unless they were at an official camp site but then Raffi remembered the candy bars they had packed and he passed them around to his famished fellow adventurers. The candy bars seemed to make matters worse, they provided a quick burst of energy but then they bottomed out and felt more drained and light headed than they had been before.  Going to the bathroom was another problem.  Ysebel asked Manny if the trail map indicated where the port-a-potties were located.  But Manny said that there must be some at the camp sites because he didn’t see any identified along the trails.  When Maria told Ysebel that they didn’t put port-a-potties in the mountains, “you go behind a tree.”  Ysebel nearly freaked out.  It took them nearly thirteen hours to get half way to the lake.  But fortunately at about the half way point there was an official camping area. 

              They looked around to find a good spot to set up their tents.  It was already dark and nobody remembered to bring flashlights.  Manny and Raffi muddled around with the tents but they were unable to figure out the directions in the dark.  The girls went out and looked for firewood it was difficult in the dark but eventually they gathered a nice pile.  But no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t get the matches to start the wood for a fire.   In exhaustion and desperation the four campers huddled in a little circle and ate cold hotdogs till they were full then fell asleep still huddled there together to stay warm under the cool starry sky.  During the night the cool air got very chilly.  Nobody had brought any jackets and all of them were wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts.  Their sleeping bags were still tied up to their backpacks.  So to avoid freezing Ysebel found her backpack in the dark and unzipped it all around like a blanket.  Rejoining the other three, the four of them cuddled together under the one blanket until morning.

              At sunrise they awoke to one another’s moans and groans, they were so achy that they could hardly budge.  But they were so hungry that they forced themselves to get moving.  They made a breakfast of graham cracker and hot dog sandwiches.   Each found their own private locations to use the bathroom, and no one thought to bring toilet paper.  They tried to clean up as best they could under the current circumstances and started heading toward the lake once again.  This time through teamwork and determination they managed to push one another much faster up the hills with much fewer rest stops.   Eight hours later they reached the lake.  It was nice but everyone agreed it was probably not worth the effort it took to get there.  Raffi’s muscles were so achy and sore he couldn’t wait to swim out in the water and ease his weary body.  He slipped into his swimming trunks and dove into a beautiful pool of water at the edge of the ice cold spring fed lake.  He was so shocked by the frigid temperature of the water that he couldn’t breathe and ran out of the water so franticly that he slipped on the rocks near the bank.  Feet flying in the air he landed on his back on some jagged rocks leaving a nasty gash his back.  After that everyone else was afraid to get in the water. 

              They set up their tents and tried again to start a fire without any luck.  It was heading toward dusk and they were being eaten alive by mosquitoes.  Unwilling to eat cold hotdogs again they tried every imaginable trick to get the fire started.  Maria came across another group of campers and told them about their difficulties.  Wanting to be supportive they came over to see if they could help get the fire started.  Mark and Tim, the more experienced campers explained that the wood they were trying to start the fire with was too large.  Tim went out and found some dried reeds, moss and some tree bark and in a few minutes they had a roaring fire going.  To the shock of Mark and Tim, Ysebel and Maria got out their cast iron skillet and a ten pound bag of potatoes and started cooking.  Mark asked, “What in the world are you doing with that stuff way up here?”  “Cooking supper.”  Maria innocently replied.  “Aren’t we allowed to bring potatoes up here?” Ysebel asked, thinking that the potato skins might be environmentally unfriendly or something.  “No, you are allowed.”  Tim answered, “But most people don’t, because they wouldn’t want to carry such heavy things up the mountain on their backs.”  “Ah, that makes sense,” everyone agreed.  “So what do you eat up here,” Manny asked.  “We catch trout,” Mark said.  “None of us know anything about catching fish, so we brought our own food.”  Raffi said, trying to legitimize his camping ignorance.  Then Maria suggested, “Say, we have been eating nothing but cold hot dogs and chocolate bars for the last two days, and it sounds like you have had nothing but trout.  I’ll bet trout would go great with potatoes, if you would like to join us.”  Everyone thought that was a great idea, and Mark and Tim thought they had better keep an eye on these city slickers for the rest of the week to help them out because who could know what other wild ideas they might try next.

              Amazingly everyone survived the rest of the week.  And Manny and Ysebel eventually had great fun and considered it the most memorable experience of their lives.  But once they got back home, they never took for granted how much they appreciated their hot shower and soft warm bed again.

Discussion Questions:

1.  Share a memorable family experience your family has enjoyed together.

2.  Which do you feel is more valuable to spend more quality time or a greater quantity of time with your family?

3.  What are some steps you can make in order have more time to spend with your family?

4.  How is time an important factor in your relationship with the family of God? What kind of social events do you participate in with your church family?

Message Board Rules:

1. You must log on by creating a user name and password.

2. Each group should maintain the same user name to enable discussion consistency.

3. You may not use the discussion boards for sales or advertisements.

4. You may not use profanity.

5. Respect and courtesy for others is required.