In North Texas, the cicada’s fill the trees and sing all day long. The hotter it gets the louder they sing. From my office, I can hear them. I’ve always thought the triple digit heat made the trees creak. It sounds like all of creation is chanting over and over ‘Itsssssss Soooooo HHHHH-OOOO-TTTT!.‘l
The heat and singing make me think about summer camp. It makes me feel safe and peaceful. I went to camp before air conditioning. Our worship center had only a roof, no walls. It was so hot. In the afternoons, at the height of the heat, we would gather at the canteen and get an ice cold coke and a bag of peanuts to pour in our cokes. Camp was the only place I ever put peanuts in my coke, but it was the best treat ever.
It is strange to have such great memories of triple digit heat, noisy insects, scorpions, mosquitoes and all four North American poisonous snakes. It was an answer to pray that I never saw one of them. There was someone special who I got to be better friends with at camp each other, Jesus.
Entering the property there was a sign with Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” From that moment on, Jesus was the center of everything. Some of my most important spiritual decisions were made at camp.
The cicadas song takes me back there.