Join us at the church property in the Poconos for a great day in the outdoors, fishing, games, fellowship, survival challenges, blow-out BBQ, a special message from survival experts. Great event for fathers and sons but all men are welcome.

Hey Guys…we are really excited about this weekend coming up! Here is some info to help you get ready for the day based on some questions we have been getting…

Where is it?

• To get to the Property take 476 North – go through the Lehigh Tunnel and get off at Exit 95 (PA-940/I-80/Hazleton/Mt Pocono)
• Go thru the toll booth and turn left at the light onto 940 East.
• Take 940 East 6.4 miles into the town of Blakeslee to the intersection of 115 and 940 (big wawa on the corner)
• Turn Left onto 115 North and take that 3.6 miles to the property. You will cross over the Lehigh river and go up a hill and the property will be on your right as you are going up the hill – there is a sign.
• From 476 and the Turnpike the drive is about 1.5 hrs.

When is it?
Saturday, May 5th. You can arrive at anytime, here is the basic schedule…

• 9:00 am to 1:00 pm Free Time – Hike and explore around the Property, fish in the river, ride bikes, games or just relax…
• 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm BBQ Lunch
• 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm Survival techniques and challenges
• 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm Special message from a member of the U.S. Special Forces.

What Should I wear?
This depends on what you would like to do. It is typically 5-10 deg cooler up there then what it is here. Bring good shoes for walking around (not everything is paved), bring shorts if you want to go in the river, etc….It is better you have extra clothes than not enough.

What should I bring?

• Please bring $7 for lunch.
• Please bring a chair! The seating is very limited for lunch so please bring a camping chair so something like that so you can be comfortable.
• Please Bring a GPS! One of the things we will be doing in the afternoon will involve a GPS, if you don’t have one we can pair you up with someone…
• Water Bottle and water – we will have water up there but if you bring some it will help us out.
• Bug spray – it is spring and we will be in the woods…
• Optional: hat, glasses, camera, binoculars, bikes, fishing gear and license, football, Frisbee, outdoor games.

Please Don’t Bring: Quads, off road motorcycles, fire arms etc…

Want to ride your motorcycle up?
You are welcome to do that, you can ride up on your own or there will be a group of guys meeting here at the church to go up together. They will be meeting here at CC Philly and leaving promptly at 6:30 am and taking the back roads up to the property. If you are interested or would like more info, you can email Scott Marsden at smarsden@ccphilly.org

Important…we are planning the food based on how many guys are registered so if you know someone who wants to come please make sure they are signed up, they can call the office at 215-969-1520 or email mthompson@ccphilly to let us know. We need as accurate a count as possible so we can all enjoy…thanks.

Parking will be tight so if you can carpool that would really be helpful!
-Trevor

Etiquette
By: F.W. Boreham
The old gardener at Versailles was in sad distress. What pains he took with his flower-beds? How patiently he mapped them all out in the evening, and how deftly he executed his own designs in the daytime! How he longed for the summer, that he might feast his eyes upon the perfect patterns and the beautifully blending blossoms! But that joy was never his! For as soon as he had got his rare seed nicely sown, his fragile plants fondly set, and his delicate young cuttings tastefully arranged, the courtiers from the palace trampled them all down, and reduced the poor gardener to tears. Season after season the nobleman and great ladies in their strolls among the beautiful terraces and graceful parterres, ruthlessly destroyed the cunning labour of the old man’s skillful hands. Till at last he could endure it no longer. He would appeal to the king! So right into the august presence of the great Louis the Fourteenth the poor old gardener made his way, and confided all this sorrows and disappointments to his royal master. And the king was sorry for the old man, and ordered little tablets- ‘etiquette’- to be neatly arranged along the sides of the flowerbeds, and a State order was issued commanding all his courtiers to walk carefully within the etiquette. And so the old gardener not only protected the flowers that he loved from the pitiless feet of the high-born vandals, but he enriched our vocabulary with a new and startlingly significant word.
The art of life consists in keeping carefully within the ways marked out by the etiquette. From cannibalism to culture is a long way. And the individual or the race that sets out on that pilgrim age forfeits more and more of freedom at every step. The cannibal can do as he lies, and have what he wants, and go where he pleases. He tramples without restraint on all life’s flower beds. But as he moves towards civilization he finds himself becoming subject to all sorts of rules and regulations. ‘Thou shalt’ and ‘Thou shalt not’ speak out imperiously. He must not do this, and he must not have that; he must not touch here, and he must not go there. His path is marked out by the etiquette. And the more refined and cultured he becomes, the more those laws subdivide and multiply. He must not only do this thing; but he must do it in a certain way. He must not only go to this place, but he must go at a certain time, and dressed in a certain fashion, and stay for just so long. Cannibalism is freedom- and wretchedness. Civilization is bondage- and delight.
For the beauty of it is that the pleasures of King Louis’ lords and ladies were not at all curtailed, but were really very considerably increased, by the introduction of the etiquette. I can easily imagine that for a month or two, whilst they were chafing under the new restrictions, and whilst as yet the gardener’s precious bulbs were but slowly developing towards their coming glory, the courtiers thought of the old man as a boor, a nuisance, and an enemy to their freedom. Why could they not tread wherever they liked? But afterwards, when their well-kept promenade was fringed and bordered by the most rare and beautiful and fragrant blossoms, then they blessed the old man as a benefactor, and laughed at their earlier folly. It is a very ancient heresy. Ever since the soul of the first man revolted against the etiquette that marked off one tree in the midst of the garden, the minds of men have rebelled against the royal legends, ‘Thou shalt’ and ‘Thou shalt not.’ We abhor, as we saunter through the park, being eternally commanded to ‘Keep off the grass.’ We forget that it is only through the instrumentality of that obnoxious mandate that there is any grass left for us to keep off. The verdant and velvety lawn that charms the eye and soothes the sense is the triumph of the etiquette that sounds like tyranny. The truth is that I never enter into my best inheritance by putting my foot upon it. I more often come into my own by keeping my foot carefully off it. The world is too wisely arranged to play into the hands of the tramplers and the trespassers. The etiquette that subtracts from my freedom multiplies my felicity. Otherwise the cannibal and the criminal would be the happiest men breathing. Things never work out that way.
The courtiers learned in time that it is not necessary to trample upon a thing in order to enjoy it. We are most of us somewhat slow in making that discovery….
Life is all a matter etiquette. Louis the Fourteenth never supposed for a moment that the dainty little tablets would prevent the courtiers from trampling on the bulbs if they were determined to do so. The tablets indicate the king’s pleasure, that is all. Indeed, that is all that etiquette ever does. It is indicative, not imperative. God does not protect His flower beds with impregnable fortresses. He makes the way perfectly clear to a man; but if the man has set his heart on outraging the etiquette, there is nothing to prevent him. God in His mercy hedges our way about with His commandments, His exhortations, His revelations; but it is the easiest thing in the world to break through a hedge.

Trevor

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New Men’s Nights at CC Philly!  One of the areas where we are aiming to improve is with our men’s fellowship nights.  I have heard from a lot of guys that what they are really wanting is more fellowship / friendship with their brothers here.  So what we are going to do is have one night a month here at the church which will be just for guys (8^th grade and up).  The format will be a time of worship and a short message in the sanctuary and then breaking up into small groups for discussion and prayer.  That then will be followed by some food and time just to hang out together.  We are praying that you can make this a regular part of your schedule.  The dates for the first four months of 2012 are:

Date               Speaker                     Time

Jan 14           Don McClure           6:00 pm

Feb 11          Guest Speaker         6:00 pm

Mar 10          Don McClure           6:00 pm

April 14         Don McClrue           6:00 pm

We will also be adding a special event section to the website where we will be letting you know about some special events coming up here for the men’s ministry.  So please check back often.

God Bless,

Trevor Steenbakkers – Men’s Ministry Pastor