Make memories for a Hallmark card, just don’t use my old pop up camper. I must admit not every memory of my pop-up camper is one for a Hallmark card. Sometimes I think my pop-up camper memories were made more for horror stories and adventure television shows. But as I was thinking about that old pop-up camper, I was reminded of all the wonderful memories my daughter and I experienced.
We made memories like fishing, making smores over a campfire, swimming, catching bugs and eating outside for every meal.
Lovely Pop-up Camper
The one thing that always rang true about that pop-up camper was the cable system. It simply refused to cooperate. I felt like the Apostle Paul with a bothersome thorn in my side I couldn’t shake.
Every time I cranked the handle to raise the top, I was pretty much guaranteed the same result. I managed to get about three-quarters of the way in turning the crank, and without fail, I’d hear a loud snapping sound, followed by a big bang and then nothing but a groan – from me.
The cable broke and pulled away from the same corner just like before. When this happened, she refused to go any further, neither up, nor down. She was like a stubborn, old mule who refused to move.
I guess by now some questions come to mind. Shall I ask them for you? Ok, sure.
1. Why did you keep the camper knowing this happens every time?
2. How did you get it in its final up position each time?
3. How did you get it lowered back down?
4. Didn’t you get frustrated?
5. Didn’t people laugh at you?
6. How embarrassing was that?
7. How many years did you keep this piece of junk, I mean beautiful camper?
8. Where is the camper today?
Those are all valid questions and I don’t have all the answers that make a lot of sense.
Truth be told, I think anyone else would have taken the first guy’s advice and dumped it in the back of their lot, but I didn’t. There was something about owning my own camper as a single mom that drew me into this hunk of junk in the first place.
Maybe I felt sorry for it or maybe I knew in my heart, I would never own a full-size motor home. 
All I know is by the fifth round with the cable, I was the new expert in rerouting the cable line and re-attaching the anchors. I knew which corner to fix. No one else could climb deep inside the belly of this pop-up camper, to the pits of darkness and snap it all back together like me. It wasn’t camping if Jeanette’s pop-up camper cable system didn’t snap. It had become part of the adventure.
When I think about this it reminds me of what God does for us. We snap, we break, we refuse to move, and yet there He is, patiently putting us back together.
He waits patiently as we throw our little tantrums. He waits patiently as we take a long way around, and He waits patiently for us to come back to Him.
Isn’t it great to know God does that for us? And to think, He didn’t cost me $400. Actually, He paid the price for me, not the other way around.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever should believe in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Thank you, God, for never giving up on me. In your Son’s name, I pray, Amen.
In His Service
Jeanette
#nevergiveup #camperstories #popupcamper #cablesystems #hallmarkmemories #recreationalvehicles
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