Growing up my folks weren't church goers. In fact they never went to church at all. My dad was an alcoholic. My mom enabled him to be that way. So that gives you a small picture of what homelife may have been like for us kids growing up.
We only had one car and my mom didn't drive so we walked everywhere we went. Back in those days my mom would take us everywhere with her. My mom always walked from our home to the grocery store to do our grocery shopping. She would bring the grocery buggy back and forth every time. She also used the grocery buggy to tote our laundry back and forth to the laundry mat. Going to the grocery store we always walked passed an elderly womans house who was always so kind to us. One day while doing the walk to the grocery store the elderly woman stopped and ask my mom's permission for me to come play with her niece sometime. Those interactions were what started my journey in finding and having a relationship with Jesus. My mom eventually got to know her so well that the old lady, Mrs. Chappel, would take us kids to church, The Gospel Chapel, with her on Sunday's. My parents didn't mind because they slept in anyhow. Going to church is where I found out about Mountain Top Youth Camp (MTYC). I was always sponsored by someone at church to go to camp every summer. Out of all my siblings I was the one who loved going to church and to MTYC the most. It is where I got my grounding and foundation in my faith. I hold Mrs. Chappel, The Gospel Chapel and MTYC close to my heart in my memories. Those were the best memories of my childhood.
God shows up in different ways in peoples lives. God showed up for me in an old lady, Mrs. Chappel. All she did was plant a small seed in me by being our ride to church every Sunday. Little did she know it would lead to a lifetime decision, on my part, to follow Jesus and make him Lord of my life. Such precious memories of such special times.
Why all the backstory? Well, recently MTYC started posting all the old pictures that they took at camp all those years ago and I wanted to share a couple of them here with you today. One of them is a side view and was taken when we were doing a swim race with floats...LOL! The float makes everyone laugh. What's really freaky is that the side view of my face looks so much like T. I was probably 15 in the picture. I'm going to share with you a shot of the camps logo and an air view of the camps main building too.
Here's another pic of me as well. Keep in mind these are old pics and it was before the digital age...LOL!! Can you find me?
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