Gathering Around Fire

A Camping Devotional

Throughout human history, people have gathered around fire. It's primal. It's how humans existed for thousands of years – gathering around fire to cook food, tell stories, stay warm, experience community.

And something about that gathering is irreplaceable. You can't replicate it through technology. A video call isn't the same as being together. A text isn't the same as conversation in person. Looking at a screen isn't the same as looking at someone's face across a fire.

Camping brings you back to that ancient practice. And most people discover it's exactly what they needed.

Hebrews 10:24-25 says: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

The writer of Hebrews understood that gathering together isn't optional. It's foundational. You can't become who Jesus is calling you to be alone. You need other people. You need to see their faces, hear their voices, experience their presence.

Proverbs 27:17 says: "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." You don't sharpen iron by putting it in isolation. You sharpen it by bringing it into contact with other iron. The friction, the resistance, the relationship – that's what sharpens you.

Gathering around a campfire – talking, laughing, being honest, supporting each other – that's sharpening. That's community doing what community is designed to do.

Tomorrow's Practice: Before you leave this campsite, commit to one regular gathering with community when you return home. Not "sometime," but a specific time and place. Maybe it's a Bible study, maybe it's a hiking group, maybe it's coffee with friends – something where you're physically present with people you care about on a regular basis. Put it in your calendar. Make it non-negotiable. Then protect that time like you would protect an important business meeting.