The Ponui Story - Celebrating 75 years

One of the things I love to do upon discovering a special place, is to find and read the history. Every special place has a story. There are always people that have gone ahead and done the hard work to direct and establish the ethos and culture... thus making it "special". In many ways, I find these stories to be even more encouraging than the places themselves. They are stories about real people that made enormous sacrifices to prepare a place for me.

When I was in high school Frontier Ranch was a camp that radically changed my life. I remember a few years later reading Dance, Children, Dance, the story of Jim Rayburn, founder of Young Life and visionary behind their camping philosophy.

A Dream That Came to Life is the history of the Laity Lodge Retreat Center and the small town grocer who, upon experiencing a Frio River ranch, vowed that "if he were ever able, he would purchase a place so that other children would have a chance to experience the same wonder".

I ordered The Ponui Story and it arrived a few weeks ago. Here is an excerpt from Dr. John M. Laird, (the first General Secretary of Scripture Union in New Zealand) recording his first impressions of Ponui in December of 1931.

Early in December I set off with a pile of books for a brief holiday at Ponui Island, some twenty-five to thirty miles from Auckland i the Hauraki Gulf. This island was owned by members of the Chamberlin family, and Fred Chamberlin and his wife, Gertie, welcomed me warmly. I had pitched my little hike tent close to the water's edge. By ten o'clock the night was as black as pitch, but mild with no wind, and the only sounds were the lapping of the calm water on the beach and the stirring now and then of some bird or animal, while far about the Southern Cross rode the night sky. In such circumstances one could:

Sense the lifting tide beneath the stars,
And in the whispering of the waters on the sands
Hear the still small voice of Him
Who holds the ocean in His hands.

My tent was pitched between two Pohutukawa trees, just coming into brilliant crimson flower. One evening I crossed the island and went part of the way on horseback, crossing the highest point from which there was a magnificent view of the rolling hills and glens of the island, flocks of sheep quietly grazing and the blue sea all around.

It was an enchanting sight.