Climbing Mount Sinai With My Wife & Kids

And the beginning of "Storied Family Camp"

Hello! Hope you’re well. Here’s the latest:

Announcing: Storied Family Camp🔥⛺️🌲

Ready for something exciting?

For the past few years, my wife (author JL Gerhardt) and I have teamed up on a workshop we’ve taken around the country (and to a couple places beyond the US). It’s about leveraging the enchanted power of Story to raise resilient kids whose hearts are anchored to God. We call it The Storied Family, and we’ve been blown away by the response—people love it. (That may have something to do with the fact that parenting seminars usually make JL and I a little nauseous😀, and we’ve tried to make sure ours is a different experience.) Again and again, people will contact us long after they’ve attended to share ways they’re implementing what they learned and how that’s changing their family. Praise God.

To be clear, we make no claims to be parenting experts—but we do have expertise in story and its transformative power. Over the years, those truths have enlivened our parenting and saved our family—and we’re delighted to be able to share what He’s shown us.

All of that to say…

Early this year, some dear friends approached us about turning The Storied Family into a weekend camp experience. We talked and prayed and dreamed a bit, and before long, we’d decided to create something really special for you.

Here’s what’s coming in October:

WHAT:

A Friday-to-Sunday family camp experience, including:

• Cabin accommodations with in-cabin bathrooms (queen beds for parents and bunks for kids)

• 5 delicious meals (plus snacks)

• The Storied Family workshop (presented by my wife and I to parents/grandparents while the kids are having some great supervised fun)

• 3 adventure activities (possibilities include a 3,000 ft zip-line, rock climbing, rappelling, kayaking, archery, cave exploring, and hiking)

• Family worship time led by the incredibly talented, full-of-the-Spirit Ryan Burton

• Storied Family Camp t-shirts for everyone, of course

WHERE:

The idyllic Camp Eagle

• Located on the Nueces River in Rocksprings, TX

WHEN:

October 13-15, 2023

• Dinner Friday evening through breakfast & worship Sunday morning

WHO:

Families with one or more child between the ages of 3 and 18

• Do you have adopted children? Are you parenting as a single parent or within a blended family? Fostering? Great. All weekend, the activities and the teaching will be geared toward family dynamics of all kinds.

• Grandparents are definitely encouraged to tag along!

HOW MUCH:

$365 per person

Want to know more? There’s a bunch of info on the website here.

Oh—and did I mention there’ll be a Saturday night Holy Ghost Stories experience? Yep. Campfire, live musical accompaniment, and yours truly bringing you into an encounter with Yahweh in one of the shimmering stories of the Old Testament.

Nature, adventure, storytelling, worship, learning, family, and Him.

This will be an epic weekend.

Unfortunately, spots are limited. So if this sounds like a way you’d like to invest in your family, check out the website and get your deposit in to reserve your place.

See you at camp!

Storm, Rising

This week saw the release of the 8th part of the Holy Ghost Stories Exodus series. This episode brings us into some of the moments in the story that don’t get as much airtime, but wow—after spending this time with those parts of the narrative, I’m convinced they’re crucial to understanding who Yahweh is. I’m so glad He told us about them, and I’m thrilled to share them with you this way.

A few things about what you’ll hear:

• Time is (not) of the essence - Perhaps you’re aware, but exact chronology is not formeost in most Biblical writers’ minds. (This was true in most ancient literature.) As the Exodus story is told, other priorities rank more highly than the play-by-play order of events. What happens (and what’s said) will sometimes be moved around a bit in order to emphasize a theme or create a juxtaposition. This is not at all an act of deception in the inspired text (again, in ancient literature there was much less expectation that events would be relayed in the precise order of their happening), but instead an accepted storytelling device. (Think, for instance, of a typical Christopher Nolan film’s approach to the timeline of events.)
  
  This is why, when you look closely, you’ll notice some abiguity when it comes to the exact timeline of what happens in, say, Exodus 19-34. The diagram starts to get a little messy as you encounter questions like:

  • Does the text revisit anything twice, a lá Genesis 1 & 2?

  • Do Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the elders accompany Moses onto the mountain just once, or is it two times?

  • Did Yahweh give Moses the 10 commandments on the mountain, or when He speaks before Moses ascends (Ex. 19:19)? (Tim Mackie actually holds this view, but I (humbly) differ with his take. Robert Alter’s reading makes more sense to me.)
    

  The bottom line is, we’re not exactly sure of the exact order of events in this section (which is why your interpretation may be different from what you hear in this episode), but that’s okay—chronology here is not of paramount importance. What is most essential comes across with abundant clarity in the text, and I hope that’s reflected my telling.
  

• Climbing Mt. Sinai in the dark - During my research trip to Egypt last year, my family and I had the incredible privilege of climbing Mt. Sinai together. Anyone can climb it, but you must be accompanied by a hired guide, and the most common way of ascending is to begin at around 1:30am in order to summit a few hours later at sunrise. This is what we did, and I’ll never forget it. (And yes, I’m aware there’s a contender for the ‘real’ Mt. Sinai across the Gulf of Aqaba, but for a variety of reasons this location makes the most sense to me.)

  Here’s our journey in photos:

  

  

  

  We're nearing the top, now. Every so often, we'd come upon a little coffee stand tucked into the rock—a welcome opportunity to catch our breath. Also: camels are amazing, but the camel salesmen were unbearably relentless.

  

  

  

  Jennifer and I told our kids to each prepare something to bring up the mountain—something to say to or ask or offer Yahweh. My wife wrote a prayer, my daughter jotted questions for Him in her journal, my other daughter wrote a song to sing to Him, and I copied down a Psalm of ascent to pray.

  

  What an absolute wonder it was to climb where Moses and Aaron and Joshua climbed, to stand where Moses stood, and to touch the mountain onto which Yahweh descended. I’m forever grateful, and delighted to be able to bring you there in this episode.

  (By the way: I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but think, Why here? Aren’t there more beautiful (or at least more alive) places to choose as the dwellingplace of God? I don’t have an answer for this question (and, of course, I can’t help feeling a little like Naaman when I ask it), but it makes me wonder about Mt. Sinai’s pre-Fall or post-Resurrection glory. Who knows what that very spot will be like when the new earth is unveiled…)
  

• What’s an “emulsifier”? - If you’re not into cooking, this word may be somewhat unfamiliar to you. An emulsifier stabilizes an emulsion (a fine dispersion of minute droplets of one liquid in another in which it is not soluble). Want to make a vinaigrette? You’ll notice as you combine them that that olive oil and balsamic vinegar of yours do not want to get together. You can shake them or whisk them to create an emulsion, but certain third elements will aid in helping them not just slide apart again once you put down the whisk. Enter honey (my favorite emulsifier). Or dijon mustard. Add either of these to your vinaigrette and you’ll find that suddenly the oil and vinegar molecules are much less mutually repellent.
  
  This is how I see the Israelites’ side of the Mosaic covenant. The law, the sacrifices, the tabernacle—together, these things are designed to enable the coexistance of two elements (deity and fallen humanity) that are essentially difficult to combine.
  
  By the way, here’s my go-to vinaigrette recipe (it’s approximately 500% better than anything you’ll buy in a bottle, I promise):

  • Combine:

    • 1/4 cup olive oil (like medium-good stuff)

    • 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar (again, not the absolute cheapest on the shelf)

    • 1 tsp salt (or more/less, according to your taste)

    • 1/4 tsp pepper (to taste)

    • 1 tbsp honey

  • I’m telling you. 500%.

3 Cool Things

What Makes Debussy Sound French? - I really enjoyed this video essay breakdown of French classical music’s answer to the Germanic conventions of Bach & Mozart. (I did, though, find myself arguing as to the amount of “truth” found in one style or the other, and then found myself wondering if I was thinking too hard about the whole thing. You’ll have to let me know what you think.)

Masterpieces, But Make Them Wood Pixels - Love these from Timur Zagirov.

Surrender, by Bono - I mentioned this book just after I began it. But now that I’ve finished and find myself still thinking about it, I can’t help but share it once more with you. I’m telling you—the audiobook is a delightful experience, a startlingly intimate portrait of a fascinating man, and an absolute masterclass in compelling storycraft. Stop procrastinating. Go listen.

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That’s the latest! Now go check out Storied Family Camp—I’d love to see you there.

Gratefully,
Justin