“Not the God of the philosophers or the scholars, but the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.”
Blaise Pascal’s famous formula of return to more ancient forms of Christianity is coming true in our own times. I had been hearing too many reports from mainstream media decrying the Gen Z fleeing of faith at alarming rates. Meanwhile, at our local Orthodox Church, we are being inundated with mostly male inquirers who have just graduated or are about to graduate high school. How you might ask do they find us? They simply pull out their phones and ask for “Orthodox Church near me.”
Time definitely passes differently at a camp near a monastery. I have asked two people already for the time and the day and both have responded alike that they count the day and the hour not according to their watch or phone, but according to their obedience: when it begins (now), when it ends (soon), when we will eat the next meal (soon enough), and when we will go to bed (before and after prayer). Who needs to measure the day with numbers in such an arrangement?
We are blessed with almost perfect weather this week, almost like Southern California. On day 2 at Camp Radonezh near Optina Monastery, the same pattern follows except that I am given a different obedience and a different set of campers in the morning. We hike to the farther 
We arrived last night and awoke to our first day at Camp Radonezh located just a few kilometers down the road from Optina Monastery. It is so far a great combination of two great loves of our family– camping and monasteries in a rare combination of both.
Like Mendicant Monks... 