Our Camp Meeting Experience
THERE will be held by Seventh-day Adventists during the summer season more than sixty camp meetings in North America. These gatherings will be attended by thousands of our people. To what proportion of those who attend will the meeting bring a blessing? How many will go home from the gathering in a worse condition than before? The results of the meeting in every case can only be determined by the individual himself. What will the meeting bring to you? Will it prove a blessing or will the occasion be a time of backsliding? It is possible to backslide from God even while attending a religious gathering of this kind. It will depend altogether upon the way the worshiper relates himself to the opportunities afforded. If one regards the meeting primarily as a social occasion—a place to meet old friends and pleasant companions—or if he takes advantage of its location in some large city to spend a portion of his time sight-seeing or attending places of amusement, or even though he may be a regular attendant at the services, if he cherishes a spirit of criticism and murmuring, he might better remain at home. One attending the meeting in such a spirit will receive but little benefit. On the other hand, if one comes to the meeting for the purpose of seeking God, of getting the victory over sin, of obtaining a new vision of the character of God and the plan of salvation, of giving as well as receiving, then he will find that for which he seeks, and the meeting will prove a rich oasis in his experience. Resolve now, before your annual camp meeting comes, that by God's grace it shall be made the best meeting in all your experience. Go to lift, to labor, to build up, to encourage. Contribute your effort, however great or however small, to its success. Heaven will respond to this spirit on your part, and the blessings of divine grace will be generously bestowed upon you.