Little Lake Chapel...Chapter 32...Looking for Mr. B... Friday, August 18, 2017 The day started with a beautiful sunshiny Sunday morning and virtually no traffic as I drove to Marquette and the Jacobetti Home for Veterans. It reminded me of my long-ago youth when the big thing to do on Sunday afternoons was to pile into the family s Plymouth for a drive to anywhere, just to experience the thrill of being on the road and seeing other cars and houses while standing up in the rumble seat--an unthinkable thing to do with today s heavy traffic and laws. However, in the Upper Peninsula the traffic is usually very light and today it was even lighter than usual. It gave me the pleasure of reminiscing for a bit as the driving part of my brain went on auto-pilot. A picture for those not familiar with a rumble seat car. As Marquette grew closer I once again reviewed in my mind the meeting last month I had with Mr. B, one of the members of the Veterans Home, and the question I had left him to think about. How come there isn t nothing. Mr. B is old, feisty and skeptical with not much time left to get right with God and Christ. Having a month to prepare, I was looking forward to our verbal encounter over science, aliens, UFO s and the beginning of time. Having signed in and checked that the chapel was in good order, I made my way to Mr. B s room. It was a bit past 9:00 AM and chapel started in an hour. It should be enough time to interact with Mr. B and convince him to attend the meeting. As I made my way down the hall I could hear my clicking heels echoing off the walls and ceiling. It was unusual to see the halls so empty at this time of day. As I approached Mr. B s room I noticed the door was opened slightly. The empty hallway and the slightly opened door reminded me of a one-line sentence I had read somewhere about our future: The home of mankind is empty, the door left ajar. A brief knock and cheerful greeting into the room was met by silence. The bed was made and the room empty of personal belongings. Hmmm, perhaps the wrong room or the wrong floor? I backed out of the room and after searching a bit found a staff person who was not aware of a Mr. B on the floor. A check on the other floors had similar results. Something was not right. Where is Mr. B? As time was pressing, I continued my inquiry about Mr. B while working towards the direction of the Chapel. At the elevator, a few yards from the chapel there were four firemen dressed in black raincoat slickers waiting to go up to the next floor. I thought nothing of it except to note that firemen always wore yellow slickers. I wondered if perhaps their department was underfunded and they were wearing old gear. The chapel group was assembling as I entered the area. Most of the attendees are in wheel chairs, so many of them that a number of pews had to be removed to accommodate them. Mr. B was not among those gathered. Oh well, I will try to catch up to him later. It was time to start.
During the service, while facing the assembly and the open doors to the chapel, my eye caught a movement-- four figures in slick black raingear making their way past the doors and then past the stained-glass flanking windows. This time they had a gurney between them with the outline of a horizontal fifth figure. They were not in a hurry, just slowly making their way down the hall like they had all the time in the world to get to where they were going. Pastor Dave, a fellow worker from the Apostolic Lutheran church, caught my brief hesitation and turned to look at the procession. His raised eyebrows and slight nod confirmed my own thoughts about the scene. After the service, while driving back home to Little Lake, I had time to put into perspective the events of the morning and thought of James 4:14 What is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. Then Mathew 9:37 as Jesus is talking to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Could it be my own lesson for the day that time is not on our side? Certainly, the end has never been closer when mankind s home as we know it will be abandoned, the door left open. It is better to spend your time looking ahead and planning in anticipation for that which is to come. Our past experiences are to be learned from, not to be wallowed in. Soon, very soon, if we continue on track, the old Little Lake Chapel will be left behind except in the memories of many thousands. However, we are not quite there yet. Still needed are hours and hours of interior finishing and outside landscaping work. There is a final need of about $60,000 more to bring the new Chapel up to operating code if the $125,000 match is to be met by September 19th. In response to the financial need there are deposit cans and bottles to be gathered for their own matching challenges and the blue jug challenge that is a visual as well as an auditory reminder of the need (think of what it sounds like to drop a series of coins 18 inches into a hollow container). Part of the work-in-progress is an outdoor playset for youngsters that was paid for by a fundraiser hosted by local Little Lake businesses. Half completed play-set situated at the back of the new (un-landscaped) Chapel. Meanwhile, the last Little Lake Chapel sponsored day camp of the year is in progress with a record breaking 171 youngsters taking part in the activities. There is now talk of limiting the numbers for a variety of reasons. That would be sad to limit the numbers. We have 10 months to plan ahead to accommodate the increase; let s pray about it and see what happens.
One hundred and seventy-one children from Day Camp #2 in the UPBC Lodge about to let out with a roar, led by Pastor Ron Westman. While Little Lake Chapel reaches out to the youth of the Little Lake and Gwinn community with many activities in addition to the Day Camps, there is also another full time Gospel outreach by a UPBC legacy couple. Jeff Martin left a financially comfortable job as a chemistry teacher to become, along with his wife Angie, Field Missionaries under the auspices of the Upper Peninsula Bible Camp. They are reaching the unchurched youth primarily from the K.I. Sawyer community. In a recent email, Jeff recounted a not atypical type incident in the life of his mentored teens: In June, eight teens from the youth group spent three days working with Dave Van Ryn to prepare the Woodlands Campus of UPBC for summer use. Later on, several teens attended JV and Varsity Camps at UPBC. Right after Varsity Camp, Jeff met for breakfast with two of the boys who had attended. One of the boys shared that at Varsity, he had decided to be all in following Jesus for the first time in his life; the other said that he d recommitted his life to Jesus. They couldn t stop talking about how great the speaker and the worship was all week. They also discussed who had downloaded the most worship songs to their phones in the three days since camp, and which songs were their favorites. After breakfast, Jeff was planning to spend the rest of the day working on the fixer-upper than he and Angie have purchased at K.I. Sawyer. (They are hoping to move to the neighborhood sometime in the next six months to be closer to their primary field of ministry.) But one of the boys, the one who got saved at Varsity Camp, was in a fix. When his family had been temporarily homeless earlier in the year, someone had put his mom s washer and dryer in storage for them. But the day before we met for breakfast, that person had moved the appliances out of the storage unit in Ishpeming and left them sitting outside, along with several boxes of family photos and other belongings. Overnight, there had been a heavy rainstorm. Meanwhile, his family was dealing with a bug infestation in their new apartment that required them to wash all of their clothes and bedding while the bug man came to spray the apartment. So, a deal was reached. Jeff would drive the young man to Ishpeming to retrieve their belongings and would help transport the dozen-plus garbage bags of laundry to the laundromat, and then he would help Jeff bag up old insulation at the new house. The other boy said he d be happy to help out with both projects. In the end, the washer and dryer were retrieved, the laundry got washed, and the insulation got cleaned up. But the most
notable part of the day was the several times that one of the teenage boys said, Hey Jeff. I ve got a Bible verse for you, and then proceeded to share it. One plants a seed, another waters the seed, but when the Holy Spirit makes it grow and causes it to bear fruit, it is truly a glorious thing to witness! Jeremy Wright, The Executive Director of the UPBC, recounts his impression of the 2017 camping season: It s hard to believe that the 2017 Summer Camp Season is coming to a close at UPBC. We know of at least 25 campers coming to know the Lord, 4 of whom were at Varsity Camp. One of the Varsity Campers came with a darker background, but God changed his heart and he was one of the 4 campers that came to know Him as savior. At the end of Varsity Camp, the 4 new believers were invited to come forward in chapel so we could all celebrate with them. It was a very moving demonstration for all in attendance. Family Camps are a wonderful time of fellowship with other believers from all over the country. Both Family Camps welcomed roughly 25 families who were coming from many different backgrounds. We don t always hear what kind of impact Family Camp played in a family s life but we know for some it can bring new life to marriages and families. One exciting thing we did this year at Family Camp 2 was participate in the baptism of 2 kids who have grown up coming to UPBC. We always share the importance of baptism being shared with their fellow believers at their home fellowship, but some circumstances are unique. Even though the Summer Camp Season is ending, we are excited to see how God moves in our Fall Season of Retreats, Rentals, Community Bible Studies and Outdoor Education Program. Our Lord is always at work at UPBC, and so are our volunteers and missionaries. We are thankful to have the year-round opportunity to share the love of Christ in this community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We covet your prayers as we change seasons and continue to serve our local community." As mentioned in Jeremy s summary of the 2017 camping season, we are thankful for the many volunteers who are the pillars of the Camp. Without their help, the Camp could not exist under the present financial structure. One of those volunteers is Al Smith. Our Riflery program would be handicapped without the carpentry skills of Al. From the rifle racks inside the shooting shed to the platform holders for the rifles and finally to the recent range officer s platform, Al has responded graciously to our needs. Check out Al s handiwork in the picture below. UPBC Rifle Range with improvements by Al Smith
Looking ahead; on this coming Sunday, August 20, there will be a joint meeting of Little Lake Chapel and Rock Bible Chapel at the UPBC Lodge. After the service, there will be four baptisms in Farmer Lake followed by another of the memorable UP luncheons. On Saturday, September 8 th, Rock Bible Chapel will take part in a local Labor Day parade with an eye-catching train type float from which they will give out tracts and candy to the cheering crowds. Remember to keep an eye out for the Mr. B s God puts in front of you. Tempis Fugit. Blessings, John Hipsky