And be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall…
That is as far I got in writing the opening of this letter before I was abruptly stopped by the door opening into the dining room and one of the Reinhold family says, “Dad you need to come quick…” This is in fact the third time this summer that this scenario was played out. This time, Julia came rushing stating that “Mom is down… she got kicked by a horse.”
The other times… Caleb comes into the kitchen at RBR… “Dad, you need to come quick… Danny just got hit in the face by a piece of metal!”
And the first time, Danny comes to RBR and states very matter of fact… “Dad you need to come to the barn right now.” There I find Rachel lying on her back after being knocked down and then hitting her head on the ground.
As I told someone earlier, we face risk every day. We are not going to stop when God has asked us to continue. We cannot. We cannot go by what people say we “could do” … We must proceed by what God says we should do.
I am writing this letter to let you know that even though we proceeded with camp. We had 328 guests from multiple states spend time with us this summer. Kids and families were energized and rejuvenated at the opportunity of being “normal”. And to top it off, we saw numerous decisions for Christ.
I am not going to kid you. We are somewhat battle-worn. Our staff number were down for various reasons beyond our control. Those that were a part of the crew for the summer gave their all. I know the full-time staff and family were weary by the end of the summer, but also praising God for the rewards of being in service for Him in camping ministry.
The heat and drought conditions added to the stress. Fortunately, our swimming hole was full and there was good fishing. But the toll is showing up. Reinhold Lake (our big dam) is down four feet. That is over a third of the water capacity. We are trusting God for His provision. The hay crop was reduced significantly. And we have fed more hay this summer due to the fact that we kept the horses closer to the headquarters since our wranglers were stretched and didn’t need to spend that much more time just rounding up the remuda.
Our financial setting is tight due to the reduced number of campers. We knew it was going to happen due to the fear that our nation finds itself in the grips of. With number down 25 percent, we feel it on the bottom line. Many of our costs are fixed. For instance, perhaps we did not need to buy quite as many groceries, but we had to feed the horses that are here to be ridden. Electric bills will not go down by a quarter. Simply stated, we are going to need your help to keep the things going as they need to be.
I will be honest… There are times that I wonder how we can continue the pace. My opening verse in this letter is truth… but many of us are tired. Many say that we need to “take it easy” for a while. That is not possible. There are responsibilities that need to be met. They cannot be ignored. We just need assistance in accomplishing the tasks that God has given us to be stewards of.