My Calling: Smplings from my Autobiography

MY CALLING, Part Two: Samplings from my Autobiography


Mizpah Grove Camp Meeting always played a major role in my life. This cannot be labeled nostalgia. It goes much deeper than happy memories of the past. At the surface level Mizpah Camp Meeting was a reprieve from the unpleasantries of peer pressure in school. We had few youth in our churches, hardly any who came to Sunday evening service or to prayer meeting. On several occasions I made a valiant attempt to identify with friends in high school and “go out” with them for afternoon or evening gatherings. But I found it all so unsatisfying. Kids just lulled around at the drug store or idled by. Hanging out like that was not my idea of a good time. Several times I ventured forth to play ball with high school kids but found that also unrewarding.

Mt. Carmel was largely Roman Catholic. Only a handful of friends in high school whom I knew were born again and none were male. I sought to give a Christian testimony and was known as a committed Christian. Many a morning the teacher in the Home Room would call on me to read the Scripture. I chose such passages as Ephesians 2 about salvation by grace through faith alone. Years later one of our church members mentioned that I had a vocal Christian testimony known by others.

No doubt this contributed to unrelenting bullying and harassment, especially in the hallways when we moved from one class to another. My locker mate was Joe Bowers, a nice guy, who was a good friend. He was not like a few of the others. After graduation I visited him once or twice. But some of the boys were just nasty, like a chubby kid nicknamed Frack.

In this environment Mizpah Grove was a solace that I looked forward to, being with other Christian young people to chum around with. We had lots of fun, putting up the tents, building wooden floors in each tent, going to Irving Street Swimming Pool in the afternoons, eating snacks and talking in the evenings. Several of us kids would play ping pong hour upon hour underneath the auditorium in the back. For six weeks I would stay at Mizpah. We had three weeks of Camp Meeting, each one over two Sundays and with five days in between each week so that families could move out and move in. These weeks were preceded by five days of pitching the tents and two days taking down. My parents stayed only for the one week but I was able to stay for all six weeks because my grandmother stayed in her tent and my Aunt Estella stayed in her tent, all next to each other.