Wilderness Northwest Blog

Dead Sea Scrolls at Wilderness Northwest!! 12-06

Wouldn’t that have been a great headline to bring new campers to WNW? I am sure many of you visited the exhibit as our family recently did at the Seattle Science Center. Unfortunately, I discovered that they weren’t interested in bringing the scrolls over to our camp.
Well, regardless, it was quite a powerful event to witness. Parts of the Old Testament preserved for 2000 years, were discovered in 1947 in caves above the Dead Sea and then kept hidden from the public view for over 40 years by the 7 scholars who worked on the puzzle pieces.

The relevance of this discovery historically confirms that God’s words will never pass away, and God has preserved the truth and accuracy of the Bible with careful transcription as demonstrated with the Dead Sea Scrolls documents.

Genesis 1:19-27 of the Dead Sea Scrolls

As many know, we use the book of Genesis to teach the foundations of truth here at WNW. It was exciting see Genesis 1:19-27 displayed at the Center and to think that 2000 years ago Jesus read from the same text that gives such a clear statement of a creation in 6 literal 24 hour days. And then it was declared “very good.” Perfect from the beginning. God’s word hasn’t changed, only man’s opinion.
Of course we shouldn’t be surprised at God’s ability to promise an eternal, trustworthy, and unchanging word. In Psalm 33 you find that God “spoke” into existence the heavens and earth. He commanded and it was so (Ps. 33:6,9). The book of Psalms was the most popular book found in the 11 caves around Qumran. There were 30 copies of Psalms, 25 Deuternonomy, 20 Isaiah, and 14 Genesis. They had Psalm 119:82-96 on display. Verse 89: “Forever O Lord, thy Word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”

The Psalms scroll, found in cave 11 in 1956
Psalm 119:82-96

Man still argues and debates, but God has forever settled and established the truth. It won’t change. That is why we can place our trust, hope, and confidence in what God says. In Isaiah 9:6 God said: “For a Child will be born to use, a son will be given…..and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Phase I Begins!!!

We have begun the process of getting Phase I of WNW Camp development off the ground. Phase I involves the “rebuilding and restoration” of our present facility to enable us to open for camp use by June 2007. Because the facility is affected by a damp climate and heavy use in the summer, we are facing cleanup, repairs and improvements beyond the ability of 2-3 workers to accomplish. We have set the next 6 months for the task of raising special funds and labor to “rebuild the walls” of WNW and enable us to utilize all program areas.
Estimated cost of materials: $7000.
Hours of volunteer labor: ? (a whole bunch)
Labor for certain projects requiring special skills: $3000.
Total: $10,000.
The fund has been jumpstarted with $2200. already designated by recent donors. As the new year approaches, consider an investment during the next 6 months towards the ministry of Christian camping at Wilderness Northwest. We will be contacting churches in January with the opportunity to send a mission work team out here next spring for a day or two. If your family is interested in helping, let me know and we’ll work on a schedule.
Let us arise together and put our hands to work for the glory of God.

Baby Emery and brother Isaiah

Early Christmas:
Our first grand-daughter, Emery Grace Reimann, arrived on December 5th at 12:45A.M. in Port Townsend. Brother Isaiah is shown getting acquainted. Mom and Dad are both recovering and doing well. We had a tense week keeping the roads cleared between snow storms, but fortunately she waited until bad weather had passed.

Have a blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And that Good News is still good, and still true 2000 years later.

A few months ago, this forest was filled with the voices of campers and Wilderness Northwest staff talking of the 6 days of creation, announcing their group names, singing songs around the campfire and hearing shouts of “look out for the director’s golfcart!” or “I’ve fallen down and I can’t find my buddy to help me up ’cause he got lost on the Wilderness trail”. These very same woods are filled with the gentle landing of thousands of snow flakes, an occassional “kerplunk” as a limb or shower snowballs fall to the ground, but mostly it’s silence of a camp on the Duckabush River…..void of it’s cherished summer campers. Wilderness Northwest is bedded down for the winter and blanketed with snow.

There’s a road in there somewhere to the playground

Camp was closed up and loads of leaves were removed from the roads which are now covered in branches and trees from the recent storm damage of snow, ice, and wind. After record rainfall in November, the sudden cold snap that took us by surprise, broke some water pipes and lead the way for the 15-16 inches of snow at the end of the month that still remains on the ground.

Anyone for a winter rendezvous??

However much debris remains on the roads and grounds, the roofs that were replaced this fall still stand and seem to be doing their job despite the weather.

The cabin roof is still holding

At the cookhouse

The Duckabush River remains as you remember it…..just a bit colder