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There is a proverb that reads: "A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse." (Proverbs 27:14 New Living Translation)
When I read this Proverb the other morning, it reminded me of Jim Gordon from Pasadena and his group of teenage backpackers at Tuolumne Meadows Campground in Yosemite National Park. Steve and I were newly married (circa 1981) and were sitting in our lawn chairs enjoying the High Sierra summer weather when a man jumped out of his church bus full of teenagers, thrust his hand toward us and demanded, "Who's the head of the family?"
Steve and I considered ourselves as equal partners in our relationship at that point, so we were dumbfounded by his request.
"We both are," Steve replied, clearly frustrating this religious man's plans for us.
"Then who is the driver of the car?" he further demanded.
Being wise beyond his 21 years, Steve quickly discerned that he was not going to get rid of "Religious Man" until he gave him an answer he was looking for.
"I am," Steve volunteered, at which time the man thrust his right hand toward Steve, introducing himself as, "Jim Gordon, Pasadena!" With the niceties out of the way, he quickly informed us that our tent was crossing over the line and into the space he hoped to occupy with his church youth backpacking group. Upon walking the perimeter of the campsites, Steve declared that we were indeed on our side of the line.
With that matter settled, Jim Gordon parked his youth bus with its exhaust pipe facing into our tent window and began to set up camp for the night with his young charges.
At about 6 o'clock the following morning, the group arose and began to ready themselves for their backpacking adventure. The "Von Trapp Family Singers" could not have carried musically any louder into our tent than those youth did, as they packed their gear and literally (I am not kidding) SANG every word they were saying to the tune of "Frere Jacques" or "Are You Sleeping?" So at 6 a.m., we were hearing "Yosemite, Yosemite, Good For Camping, Good For Camping..." to that tune.
Steve and I were as long-suffering as you could expect a couple of 21-year-old newlyweds to be, but, finally, as the Grinch says, the "noise, noise, noise, noise" got to us. At about 6:30 a.m., I called out the tent window, "Can you keep it down out there? People are trying to sleep!"
At this point, again, I am not kidding, the entire youth group broke into "We Are Sorry, We Are Sorry, You're Trying To Sleep, You're Trying To Sleep..." to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" Shortly thereafter, Jim Gordon began to pump exhaust fumes from his youth bus' tailpipe into our tent.
And that's how Proverbs 27:14 proved true in our lives: "A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse."
The group returned a couple of days early from their backpacking trip. Rumor had it the bears had gotten all their food. We weren't sorry.
We were not evangelical Christians at the time and our encounter with "Jim Gordon, Pasadena" left us with a pretty bad taste in our mouths. I'm just sayin'...if you want to share the gospel in a campground, try observing the "Quiet Hours"!
--Posted by Mama O.
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