We have a summer tradition that started several years ago: every Memorial Day we go camping in Nomee Ranch. It’s a piece of private property (20+ acres) in Como, Colorado (which is just this side of Fairplay) and it has 2 cabins, fishing ponds, an outhouse (yeah I said it) and a view of god’s country second to none. The land is now owned by the widow (Darlis) of a truly great man–Jim Matthews.

Jim started the camping tradition as a member of our little church. He was a man who embodied the term “servant leader”. I’ve never met another man quite like Jim. He was an old guy with a young heart…especially a heart for young couples. He had this great piece of property in the Colorado Mountains and his passion was sharing it with others (as he shared everything else).

Jim passed away a few years ago, but we have kept the Camping tradition going…in his honor! And this year we expanded it to include the Labor Day weekend. This last weekend we went with two close family friends, Bill & Cindy and Shawn & Iris (and all of our kids). We had a blast!! We did it all: hiking, fishing, smore’s over a roaring fire, BB Gun shooting, sling-shots, fixing the dam on the pond, sleeping in, and on and on.

Time with family, time with God, time away. And we shared it with each other. Jim wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Thanks Jim…and say “Hi” to Jesus for me.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 6:29 am and is filed under Family, Friends, Recreation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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