Primitive Camping & Bushcraft

Solar, Inflatable, Rechargeable. The Camp Lights That Never Quit

Episode Summary

This episode breaks down the lighting system I rely on after years of forgetting flashlights and stumbling through camp in the dark. I walk through the exact lanterns that earned a permanent place in my pack, how they work, and why they matter for safety, comfort, and night movement.

Episode Notes

Today’s conversation is all about practical lighting in camp. I walk through the lanterns I actually use, why each one has a job, and how they’ve held up in real weather, river nights, and deep woods trips. From ultralight inflatable solar lanterns to heavy basecamp chargers, I break down what each one is for and why I keep them in my kit.

Gear Mentioned (Remember to add affiliate links):
• LuminAID Lantern – your main work light
LuminAID Titan – heavier, brighter, doubles as a battery bank
Luci (BioLite rebrand) inflatable solar lantern
• Blavor Power Station Lantern
• Unbranded solar USB crank lantern 
• Tea light can DIY example
• Headlamp and small LED flashlight
• Page references in your book (Page 70–73 sections)

 

Episode Transcription

(upbeat music)

 

Welcome to the Primitive

 

Camping and Bushcraft Podcast.

 

I'm your host, Chris Speir.

 

So here we're gonna talk about gear,

 

Grit and the kind of stories

 

you only get around a fire.

 

It's all about learning, adapting

 

and keeping your faith strong.

 

So whether you're a seasoned outdoorsman

 

or just looking to unplug and reconnect,

 

you're in the right place.

 

So pull up a chair by the

 

fire and let's get into it.

 

All right, welcome back

 

to the Primitive

 

Camping and Bushcraft Podcast.

 

My name's Chris Speir

 

and we are underneath the

 

tarp of Camp Wut-Da-Heck

 

Today is Monday.

 

It is just a few short

 

days away from Thanksgiving.

 

We have a lot to be thankful for.

 

It does not matter who you are.

 

It doesn't matter where you are.

 

It doesn't matter what ethnicity you are.

 

It doesn't matter where

 

your social statuses are.

 

It does not matter any of these things,

 

these earthly things do not matter.

 

We all have something to be thankful for.

 

So moving on with that, I am thankful

 

when I get to go camping

 

that I have a couple of these devices

 

that we're gonna talk about.

 

I'm fixing to set it all up.

 

And so we're doing it.

 

I'm setting up a new

 

structure for everything.

 

We're ironing out all the kinks.

 

I'm ironing out all the

 

little things here and there

 

and it's starting to slowly transition

 

into a smooth setup.

 

So what my new model is

 

going to be here fourth

 

is we're gonna do the podcast on Monday.

 

Then Tuesday we're

 

gonna release a short video

 

on the same subject.

 

Wednesday is gonna be a

 

blog post on the website

 

on the same subject.

 

Thursday is gonna be a

 

short video on the same subject.

 

Friday is gonna be the

 

fundamental Friday video

 

on the primitive camping and bushcraft

 

YouTube page about the same subject

 

that we do the podcast on.

 

And then it all

 

starts over the next Monday

 

on the next subject, the next topic.

 

So we're gonna spend a whole week

 

on what we're discussing today.

 

And today we're talking

 

about candling devices

 

We're talking about lanterns.

 

I am the king of

 

leaving my flashlight at home.

 

And for any of you guys

 

that have ever been camping with me,

 

specifically David,

 

(laughs)

 

you know, he knows that I

 

consistently leave a flashlight

 

but I always bring

 

these other devices with me

 

and I want to really, I

 

really wanna lay this out

 

and I wanna show you

 

guys the significance

 

of having a lantern with you.

 

Now, I stopped using

 

lanterns that require gas

 

or fuel or anything a long time ago

 

because it requires extra weight.

 

It is extra weight that you

 

have to pack in or pack out.

 

Then they started having

 

the propane bottle lanterns

 

that lasted pretty good bit

 

and are a little bit lighter weight.

 

That's fine and dandy.

 

But then I moved up

 

and I found other ways

 

to light my campsite.

 

So let's get in, let's

 

touch on that a little bit

 

because, you know, in

 

the daylight, you're fine.

 

In the daylight, you're good.

 

You can see everything.

 

The night, whenever

 

your light comes to an end

 

and it starts to become dark outside

 

and you can't see anything,

 

you don't have a light or anything,

 

it becomes a safety concern

 

is what it really

 

becomes, what it boils down to.

 

You cannot perceive depth perception.

 

You can't see

 

different things in your camp.

 

You cannot see roots.

 

You can't see the ground.

 

You can't see your hand.

 

How many times have you

 

ever been in the  pitch dark

 

and you went to scratch

 

your eye or rub your face

 

or something in a pitch

 

start and you poked your eye

 

because you didn't know

 

how far away your finger was?

 

Raise your hand.

 

I've done it.

 

And if I'm the only one

 

that's ever done that,

 

something is wrong, you know?

 

(laughs)

 

Something is wrong.

 

So I have done that in the pit start

 

and I have tripped in the pitch dark.

 

How many of you have got up at nighttime

 

to go to the restroom?

 

You don't have a nightlight at your house

 

and you walk into the bathroom

 

because you know which direction it is.

 

You've walked that route a million times.

 

You walk with your eyes closed

 

because you're

 

visualizing how to walk to the door

 

and you reach out, you touch the door,

 

you swing the door open.

 

You know how many times

 

have you stubbed your toe

 

in the cabinet or something like that

 

at the tip, the edge of your bed.

 

And it always happens at nighttime

 

when you don't have light.

 

Now that is the big issue,

 

is that light becomes a safety issue

 

whenever you're camping

 

because you can't see

 

a hole, you can trip,

 

you can break an

 

ankle, you can break a leg.

 

You don't see that bluff that's right

 

there over your river.

 

You can fall off the

 

bluff down into the river.

 

It becomes a safety hazard.

 

And in the daylight, none of this matters

 

because you can see it all.

 

Every decision you

 

make at night slows down.

 

Your eyes stop giving you the information

 

that you need to make the

 

decisions that you need.

 

So without all this

 

information, you hesitate,

 

you misjudge, you can trip over a route,

 

you can, you know, you

 

walk right into that guy line.

 

Now, how many of you,

 

whether you've got landers or not,

 

walk into the guy line a

 

hundred times off of your tarp,

 

raise your hand.

 

Me, that's me.

 

I've done it a million times.

 

So when you forget a flashlight

 

and all you have is the firelight,

 

you can get that

 

information, but you're still,

 

you still are only

 

getting part of the information.

 

All right, so nothing changes

 

between the night and the dark.

 

Nothing changes.

 

Your camp's still set up the same way.

 

The woods are still the same exact way.

 

The trees are in the same location.

 

You do not process that information.

 

You can't see where everything is.

 

And so whenever the

 

darkness starts to take over

 

for the night, the moon comes up,

 

you get a little bit of moonlight.

 

How many times have you

 

been camping on a full moon

 

or a fuller moon?

 

And it is so bright outside

 

that you can see without a light.

 

When we're driving up and down the river,

 

it is a lot easier at nighttime

 

to just have your red and green

 

navigation lights on

 

and your clear light

 

in the back of your boat

 

and drive with no other lights

 

because you can see clearer

 

with the gathered light on the river,

 

with the reflection of

 

the light and all that.

 

Now, it's not to say

 

that you can't hit a log.

 

I've done that before.

 

I run into a sandbar.

 

I've done that before too.

 

It's no fun hitting a

 

sandbar at full throttle

 

at a 40 horsepower

 

engine, a tiller handle,

 

and then everybody get

 

thrown out of the boat.

 

And that's pretty much happened one time.

 

But you know, it is,

 

you can see a lot better.

 

Now, if you turn that light on,

 

you're conflicting yourself

 

because that light

 

you're trying to concentrate

 

on the brightness of that light.

 

Does it help?

 

Yes, it does, but it actually hinders you

 

from seeing the whole picture.

 

You can only see what that

 

light is that you're shining.

 

I keep hitting this microphone.

 

So, but anyway, back to the camp.

 

So what we need is a simple, reliable way

 

to light up our camp besides fire.

 

Now I've camped many

 

nights alone on the river

 

with just a fire and no lanterns.

 

I've done it.

 

I've camped many nights alone on a river

 

with just a fire and no flashlight.

 

I've done it.

 

I've been there.

 

I've done that.

 

And I just like the

 

convenience of having a light

 

to be able to see around camp.

 

There's another issue that it gives you

 

a false sense of security.

 

If you can see what's happening,

 

you feel more secure.

 

And to a lot of

 

individuals that's not used

 

to camping in the great

 

outdoors by themselves,

 

they can have a,

 

almost like a sense of fear,

 

like they're sort of

 

apprehensive or afraid

 

of what's in the dark

 

because they don't have

 

the information to see what's out there.

 

They can't see something coming.

 

They can't see.

 

And a lot of your predators,

 

a lot of your game animals,

 

a lot of stuff is

 

moving around at nighttime

 

under the concealment of

 

dark and they get their food,

 

they get their stuff.

 

These guys are made different.

 

They can see.

 

They can see, they can

 

smell, they know where you are.

 

They can walk all

 

around you and be very quiet

 

and you never even see them.

 

But there's instances where

 

people can feel less secure

 

at nighttime and a light or

 

some kind of candling device

 

actually makes it to

 

where you feel more secure.

 

Now, I'm going to

 

throw this one out there

 

first and foremost.

 

I talked about this

 

with Chris on the phone,

 

up in, he's up in

 

Illinois, member of the group.

 

And we were talking about

 

how you take a tea light candle

 

and you open up a pop can for all you guys up north,

 

a soda can for all you guys down south

 

or a Coke can for all you in Mississippi.

 

And, or in Mississippi,

 

there you hit some Bud Light can.

 

You know, well anyway,

 

you cut it in the middle,

 

you know, about two thirds of the way up,

 

you cut a line straight down

 

to about a third of the way

 

to the bottom and then, or

 

maybe a quarter of a way.

 

And then you make little door hinges

 

and then you open it up and then that will expose the air

 

and then you open it up

 

and then that will expose

 

the inside of this can.

 

And then you light your tea light candle

 

and you stick it inside

 

that can and stick it up there.

 

I have tested how many lumens that is

 

and I don't have an

 

example to show you right now.

 

But you see this all the time

 

on these fake survival skill videos.

 

Yeah, it's great, but how

 

many times are you going to just

 

carry a tea light candle?

 

Am I wrong?

 

Do you carry a tea light

 

candle with you in the woods?

 

I don't know if you guys have any

 

comments of this video

 

or this podcast, but it

 

will produce some light.

 

It will give you some light.

 

It is not going to

 

give you a lot of light.

 

You would need

 

several of these, you know,

 

how many of you remember

 

before they started gauging

 

everything and lumens,

 

everything was candle power.

 

You know, growing up in the woods,

 

we would get a new

 

flashlight and it'd be like,

 

oh man, this has one

 

million candle power.

 

And I know you know

 

what I'm talking about,

 

unless it was the,

 

what do they call that?

 

The butterfly effect or

 

what do they call that effect,

 

something effect that it never really

 

happened or whatever.

 

But no, I can remember flashlights

 

whenever you had a spotlight

 

to come out and have

 

one million candle power

 

and it was extremely bright and you

 

spotlight from here to,

 

you know, 10 acres across.

 

That was the equivalent

 

of one million candles

 

inside that handheld device.

 

All right.

 

That's how they equated that.

 

That's where that come from.

 

One million candle power.

 

So if you have one candle, you can light

 

up just a little bit.

 

You know, it's probably

 

not even 65 lumens now.

 

They changed it over

 

to lumens and you know,

 

it's the lumens that light

 

up everything you're getting.

 

The lumens are the value that they

 

measure how bright something is.

 

And if I'm wrong, correct me, let me know

 

because I'm just going

 

off the top of my head.

 

I don't even have any of this stuff that

 

we're talking about scripted out.

 

So, but anyway, let me know in the

 

comments or something like that.

 

But if they judge it by the lumens and

 

that little device right there

 

can give you some light.

 

I need to go out and record a video and

 

post it here showing you how

 

bright that candle could be.

 

I think I'll probably do

 

that in the next week or two.

 

So, all right.

 

Moving on from that.

 

So now I'm typically the guy that leaves

 

the flashlight at home.

 

But when it gets dark, I

 

always remember in my backpack

 

to bring one of these

 

little extra devices.

 

And I talk about it in

 

my book on page 70 and 71.

 

If you're watching the video, I'm holding

 

the book up here

 

showing you on page 70 and 71

 

under the miscellaneous items.

 

And there I talk about like a headlamp.

 

The headlamp, it uses batteries.

 

It uses three AAA batteries.

 

It don't weigh much, but

 

it is extremely useful.

 

And I put in there, I can't tell you how

 

many times I forgot to

 

pack replacement batteries

 

or forgot to pack the

 

flashlight for my trip anyway.

 

A small LED flashlight

 

is good to take with you.

 

But let's get over here.

 

A multi-tool, synthetic materials.

 

So, on page 73, 72, I discussed the

 

Lumenade solar lanterns

 

and how they're waterproof and how they

 

really help with

 

visibility around your camp.

 

And so, these things are amazing.

 

They're great.

 

And I wanted to really touch on them

 

today and demonstrate

 

them here on the podcast

 

and the podcast video.

 

So, if you're not watching the podcast

 

videos, go to the Primitive Camping and

 

Bushcraft YouTube page and look at the

 

videos because it's

 

describing everything.

 

I'm showing everything that I'm talking

 

about on this podcast.

 

So, in my hand, what I have now is the

 

Lucy Empowered, the Lucy Outdoor

 

Empowered solar lantern.

 

This thing will raise not even three

 

ounces, not even four ounces.

 

It's less than three ounces.

 

Now, this little device, it inflates like

 

a swimming pool noodle.

 

You have to pull this little thing out

 

and then it has that

 

inflatable thing where you blow it.

 

And let's see if I can do this.

 

I like to squeeze it and then pull it out

 

and then blow it up.

 

So, there we go.

 

Now, it is blown up and it

 

looks like a swimming pool.

 

It's like people use these in

 

their pools to swim at night.

 

They put it for lighting and they'll

 

throw it in a swimming pool like this and

 

it lights up the pools.

 

But these are amazing at camping.

 

These are amazing

 

during natural disasters.

 

These are amazing for preparedness.

 

If you have any reason to have a

 

preparation kit at home,

 

some kind of go kit, a go bag,

 

or preparation to be prepared for the

 

natural disaster, then these

 

are what you need in there.

 

They're the most cost

 

effective and most reliable.

 

You can get one of these

 

for probably like 13 bucks.

 

Now, there's different brands.

 

It doesn't really matter to brand.

 

This is the Lucy.

 

Lucy is a brand that I have particularly

 

cared for because they seem to last.

 

Now, they have changed to the name.

 

So, they used to be Lucy Empowered and

 

now if you look on Amazon, they are

 

called the Lucy BioLite.

 

I forget the price.

 

I believe they're like 13 bucks or $15.

 

Something to that effect.

 

But even if they were up to $20, these

 

are worth every single penny.

 

And they recharge.

 

They have a little lightning bolt on the

 

side right here that tells

 

you how charged they are.

 

You press that button and it gives you

 

three little lights.

 

If it's fully charged, it gives you one.

 

If it's drained and none. If it's empty.

 

And then you hit the power

 

button and it will light up.

 

You can see in the camera.

 

Let's see.

 

Can you see in the camera?

 

Yeah, it's bright.

 

Where that is the low setting.

 

That is the bright setting.

 

And then it has a blinking setting.

 

And that blinking setting is for

 

emergency so you can signal to somebody.

 

And then it has an off.

 

So, it has a low, high and blink.

 

And these things are great because they're not going to be able to get off.

 

They're going to be great because it will

 

allow you, you could put it on low.

 

You get two of these and set up in your

 

camp, which I do all the time.

 

As David, we just used them

 

in our video week four last.

 

And I'm going to try to put some footage

 

of me using these

 

videos, using these lanterns

 

in a video while I'm doing this podcast.

 

So, that is the Lucy Empowered light.

 

Now, that is an amazing

 

little device and they are great.

 

They're economical and they're, like I

 

said, extremely

 

affordable and ready to go.

 

And all you have to do whenever you get

 

done is set it in the

 

sunlight and it has that

 

solar panel right there

 

and it'll charge it up.

 

Now, out here at Camp Wut-Da-Heck

 

Underneath my tarp, I have two of them

 

set up and that's the

 

only lights I use out here

 

underneath this camp tarp at night.

 

It lights up the whole thing.

 

The way I have this set up is to where

 

it's reflective

 

underneath and it was, I got one

 

out front and then I have one in the

 

middle and it lights up

 

everything that I need it

 

to light up.

 

These things are awesome.

 

They're great.

 

I cannot, I cannot tell you, but if you

 

want to up your game, I

 

think those are 65 lumens.

 

Let me check.

 

Let me see if I can get on the interwebs

 

while we're out here and

 

check out the price currently

 

on the Amazon website.

 

I would have to do it through my

 

silly-tilly because my

 

tablet does not have the internet

 

connection.

 

And now we're looking

 

for the Lucy BioLight.

 

BioLight.

 

Lucy BioLight.

 

And bear with me, it's coming.

 

Lucy Lantern.

 

And I keep getting the little oops,

 

something wrong because I

 

don't have much service out

 

here at all.

 

Nope.

 

No internet.

 

So I'll have to put the link in the

 

description of this

 

video in the show notes.

 

Oh, it popped up.

 

Here we are.

 

Let's see.

 

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy BioLight.

 

Oh, they changed the price.

 

These things are now $19.95.

 

$19.95.

 

So they are up to $20.

 

And let's see.

 

They are, I'm looking through, I'm trying

 

to, there's another one,

 

Bidex Solar Rechargeable

 

is $13.99.

 

Now it does not matter to the name brand.

 

It shouldn't matter to the name brand.

 

These things, this one puts out, the $13

 

one puts out 90 lumens.

 

And let's scroll up

 

here to the other one.

 

The other one, it says, for $19, it puts

 

out a whopping, let's

 

see here, a whopping, it

 

don't say the lumens.

 

It just says 10 hours of runtime, five

 

light modes, 10 hours

 

reliable light per charge,

 

and it's USB chargeable.

 

So the original Lucy, this

 

one in my hand is now $29.

 

That is crazy.

 

I don't know, I think I

 

would not buy Lucy for $29.

 

So I'm glad I checked that live here on

 

the page because I

 

really do believe that the

 

next up is the better option.

 

And let me grab those.

 

So the next up is the

 

Lumenade, the Lumenade Lanterns.

 

Now these I know are $30 a

 

piece, but these are heavier.

 

These are, I want to say this one is, I

 

think it was eight, six

 

ounces, eight ounces, something

 

to that effect, something to that effect.

 

Now these are almost the same.

 

They have Velcro.

 

You open them up and that handle comes

 

around and you can latch

 

that onto a tree limb or

 

something to that effect.

 

I turned it on

 

accidentally before I was ready.

 

Then they have a little pull tab here at

 

the bottom and you open

 

it by pulling it and let

 

all the air in and

 

then you close that off.

 

All right.

 

So this is kind of frosted.

 

It looks like it needs a good washing,

 

but these things have

 

been used so many times.

 

I cannot tell you how many times.

 

If these die, I will buy a new one.

 

So, but anyway, it

 

even smells like campfire.

 

Yeah, I've used them so many times.

 

Now this one right here, it has a button

 

that it will tell you,

 

you press this button on

 

here and when you press that button, it

 

gives you how many, four

 

lights are being charged.

 

Which is one, two, three, four.

 

So this device is fully charged.

 

It has an optional button right here for

 

red light or white light.

 

Now the red light is exactly that.

 

It is an emergency light so you can

 

signal and it does

 

brighter and it blinks.

 

Let's see if we can get

 

it blink here on the video.

 

I think it's blinking.

 

There we go.

 

It's blinking and then turn it off.

 

But then you can switch

 

it back to the white light.

 

Now what I love about these liners is

 

that you can turn them on.

 

One, let's turn it

 

back to the white light.

 

One that is the low setting.

 

No, that's the high setting.

 

Then the next one is like a medium and

 

then a low and then

 

extremely low and then blink

 

and then off.

 

So these things are amazing.

 

These are worth it.

 

Now this one in particular model is

 

called the Lumenade Titan.

 

This one is more expensive than the

 

regular just Lumenade solar liners.

 

The Lumenade Titan allows you to charge

 

it on the wall before you leave.

 

But this also acts as a battery bank for

 

whenever you get out into

 

the great outdoors and you

 

need to charge your

 

cellular device or your something.

 

So you can charge something with this.

 

Now I got two of those.

 

I got three of the

 

Lumenades and I used to.

 

You can buy the

 

Lumenades at Walmart for cheap.

 

I mean not the Lumenades but the Lucy.

 

L-U-C-I Lucy.

 

So now moving along to the next item.

 

I found an item that someone had sent to

 

me to do a video on.

 

And this item when I first got it I was

 

like this thing is

 

ridiculously worthless.

 

I did the video and the more I started

 

investigating when I was

 

doing this video on how to use

 

this thing I fell in love with it.

 

This is this little box

 

right here is a solar liner.

 

This little box

 

charges right here by USBC.

 

USBC and it has a USB-A where you can

 

charge another device with it.

 

It has a solar panel here on the top and

 

these little arms fold out.

 

They fold out and you

 

pull and that liner turns on.

 

It pops out.

 

Now this is something I'm

 

not taking camping with me.

 

This is something that

 

I'm keeping at my house.

 

This would be something that I would take

 

with me if I

 

absolutely had to but this is

 

something I would keep at my house in the

 

event of hurricanes or tornadoes.

 

This is a natural disaster type thing.

 

The reason why is because not only can

 

you charge it, it has a

 

flashlight right here.

 

Not only can you charge this by your wall

 

but it has an arm that

 

comes out and it allows

 

you to wind it up and charge it.

 

It has a little red light right here on

 

the side and when

 

you're doing this motion it's

 

a wind up type charger and it allows you

 

to charge this light.

 

So if you cannot get it to charge in the

 

solar power or the

 

sunlight or it's after dark and

 

it dies you can still charge the same and

 

still have enough

 

light to do what you need

 

to do.

 

Now here's the only problem with this.

 

There's no name on this.

 

There's no brand name.

 

There is no, I've tried emailing the

 

people, the people that

 

made this one out of business.

 

There is no way to replace this.

 

I don't know where, how to get another

 

one but that's what makes this so unique.

 

There's only a few of these out but there

 

should be something

 

like this out and available

 

for you to find and you could

 

probably do a search on Amazon.

 

This little box is unique.

 

It is extremely unique and I will leave

 

it at my house for natural disasters.

 

Now let's talk about the big elephant in

 

the room if you're

 

watching the video is this

 

device that is actually powering the

 

camera while we are

 

sitting here going over this

 

podcast.

 

This is the Blavor.

 

It is BLAVOR.

 

It has 16 amp hours.

 

It's 14.8 volts and it

 

has 236.8 watt hours.

 

So this little battery recharger is going

 

to go with me camping.

 

This little device in my hands, it

 

weighs, I want to say two

 

pounds, two and a half pounds,

 

something to that effect.

 

This is one of those battery backup,

 

those little battery chargers.

 

Now what I like about

 

this device is the lantern.

 

It has a lantern that you could leave

 

this out on a tabletop or something.

 

It has one, two, three and it has three.

 

It has low, medium and high lanterns and

 

I haven't got into it

 

so far yet to find out

 

all the lumens and everything.

 

I'll be doing that throughout this week

 

as I post the

 

information on the website, on

 

the blog post and we'll be going over all

 

this stuff with the

 

fundamental Fridays episode

 

as well.

 

But this will allow you

 

to charge USBC devices.

 

It charges via USBC.

 

It does not charge via solar panel unless

 

you have a third party

 

solar panel to connect

 

to it.

 

And then it will charge your devices.

 

Right now it is charging the battery on

 

the GoPro that is

 

actually filming this episode

 

and it is using 8.9 volts

 

right now to charge that device.

 

So I can turn this on and it will light

 

up the area so you can

 

see everything at the

 

table.

 

So you'll put this in the table.

 

I'm not sure you will

 

actually hang this up.

 

I'm going to test it out this week and

 

I'm going to run it through its paces.

 

I'm going to test it out.

 

But this is the Blavor, Blavor, Blavor,

 

Blavor, Blavor, Blavor,

 

Blavor, Blavor, Blavor, Blavor,

 

lantern and battery backup.

 

Now I'm not sure how

 

expensive this thing is right now.

 

They sent it to me to do a video for

 

Spare Outdoors and I was

 

like well we're talking

 

about lanterns so let's go ahead and

 

throw it on a primitive camping podcast.

 

And you know sometimes

 

these things come in handy.

 

Sometimes they're just gimmicks and you

 

know I will, if I see

 

something that I like that

 

I think has value in something I will

 

throw it out here and I

 

will throw it, like Spare

 

Outdoors, my YouTube channel.

 

I do product reviews all the time.

 

And a lot of the videos that I do, if I

 

put it on there it's

 

because it's something that

 

I use.

 

It's something that I will use.

 

If people have sent me products and I

 

have emailed them back and

 

saying I will not recommend

 

your product to my viewers.

 

And a lot of these are non-name brands

 

and places, companies

 

and stuff like that you

 

never heard of.

 

That's okay.

 

Just because you've never heard of it

 

doesn't mean it won't

 

work for what you need it to

 

work for.

 

So you know it's crazy how, it's crazy

 

how we always get into

 

the name brand thing.

 

Where if that's not a name brand product

 

I'm not going to use it.

 

I don't want to use it

 

if it's not name brand.

 

Now I just want to take a

 

chance to shift gears a little bit.

 

Because I know how we've talked about

 

these laners and how you

 

know it sounds like I'm

 

just going about camp

 

gadgets and camping gear.

 

But there's a bigger

 

point under all this.

 

We have been talking about light for the

 

last 31 minutes or so.

 

How light for safety, light for comfort,

 

light so you don't trip

 

over a tree root or a guideline

 

in the dark or anything of

 

that point or that nature.

 

And I feel like maybe some of you may

 

know exactly where it's going.

 

Truth is all of this talk about physical

 

light is really just a

 

picture of something a lot

 

bigger.

 

And the same way you feel when you're at

 

camp you don't have enough light.

 

That hesitation, that unease, that second

 

guess in every step

 

that how life feels when

 

you're trying to walk it out or without

 

the Lord leading you.

 

You're still moving.

 

You're still making decisions but you're

 

doing it half blind.

 

You're missing a lot of the information

 

that you need when it

 

comes to what you're doing

 

in your life and what you're doing.

 

And you're reacting to the shadows

 

instead of seeing everything clearly.

 

So I wanted to read a verse

 

to you that ties it all in.

 

If you have your

 

Bible, if not, just listen.

 

If you do, follow along.

 

It says here in Psalms 109 verse 105 is,

 

"Your word is a lamp unto

 

my feet and a light unto

 

my path."

 

And I know in the King James is, "Thy

 

word is a lamp unto my

 

feet and a light unto my

 

path."

 

So it's like your word is a lamp unto my

 

feet and a light unto my path.

 

So it's not talking about spotlight.

 

It's not talking about a

 

one million candle power.

 

Flashlight is talking about how your word

 

is a lamp unto my feet.

 

A lamp unto your feet is something just

 

so you can see where you

 

are walking so you don't

 

stumble, so you don't trip.

 

His word is something

 

that illuminates your path.

 

And that's just like, you know, I'm

 

always saying at the end

 

of every video is, you know,

 

acknowledge him in all you do

 

and he will direct your path.

 

And he will direct our path.

 

And if we allow him to light

 

our path, we won't stumble.

 

We won't trip.

 

Now, are you going to stumble sometimes?

 

Absolutely.

 

Yes, you are.

 

But there's another

 

passage that I want to read too.

 

And that is in Matthew, and this comes

 

straight out of Jesus' mouth.

 

He said that, "You are

 

the light of the world."

 

And this is Matthew 5, verse 14, "You are

 

the light of the world.

 

A city that is set on a

 

hill cannot be hidden.

 

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under

 

a basket, but they put

 

it on a lampstand and

 

it gives light to all

 

those who are in the house."

 

What does that mean?

 

So you are the light of the world.

 

A city that is set on a

 

hill cannot be hidden.

 

These cities, if you've seen any lights

 

up on a hill, you

 

could see it for miles and

 

miles and miles and miles.

 

You can't hide it.

 

It cannot be hidden

 

unless you turn the light off.

 

So if you have that

 

light in you, people see it.

 

People can see it for miles away.

 

People can see everything about you.

 

They can see your

 

actions, your reactions.

 

How do you handle stressful events?

 

How do you?

 

And are you the reason that people are

 

walking away from the light?

 

So what Jesus is saying

 

is the same thing about us.

 

If His word is lamped to our feet and His

 

light is what lets us walk straight, then

 

we are also meant to reflect that light.

 

Not hide it.

 

Not bend it in the dark.

 

Just like a lantern.

 

We're going to hang it out there in camp.

 

And you're supposed to make it a little

 

easier for folks around

 

you to see what is true and

 

what is not.

 

Not by being preachy.

 

You don't have to beat people over the

 

head with a Bible to show your faith.

 

It's just by walking in

 

the light that you have.

 

If you got one of these lanterns hanging

 

up, let's say this 65

 

lumen lantern hanging up,

 

it does not produce a ton of light.

 

It's not the

 

brightest light in the world.

 

But whenever you're a hundred yards away

 

from this light, it is

 

in the complete darkness.

 

This is a very bright light and you can

 

see it from a very long way.

 

And that's what we are called to be.

 

We're called to be the light.

 

When you're out in the woods and I've

 

done it, I've walked up

 

to camp in the dark without

 

a flashlight with these lights on and I

 

can see where the camp

 

was from a very long way.

 

So that's what it means when it's talking

 

about your word is a lamp into my feet.

 

It gives you just enough light to where

 

you can see where you're walking.

 

So you're not stumbling.

 

You're not tripping.

 

All right.

 

Thy word is a lamp into my feet.

 

It is not a one million candle power

 

light shining the whole woods and

 

disturbing everything.

 

It is just being consistent and people

 

that can see it can see it from afar.

 

Okay.

 

You can see it from a long distance.

 

But these lanterns, dude,

 

I love all these lanterns.

 

Now I'm going to be

 

trying this Blavore one out.

 

I love this one.

 

This is the rechargeable one.

 

Michael Mike, uncle Mark, something like

 

that outdoors or

 

something was the original name

 

of the company.

 

But I think he went out of business and

 

then we got the Titans.

 

We got the Lucy's and there

 

are other kinds out there.

 

If you have a particular kind that you

 

want to use, throw it out here.

 

Let me know.

 

The one thing that I absolutely love

 

about each and every one

 

of these is set for the

 

Blavore is the fact that you could charge

 

it up during the

 

daytime while you're around

 

camp.

 

You can set it out in the

 

sun and charge these things.

 

It takes about seven hours to charge them

 

up and you can get about

 

seven hours of daylight

 

and you just lay them puppies out there

 

and let the dudes charge

 

and you're going to have

 

enough light to light up your camp.

 

And that's why I take two of them because

 

I leave them on the

 

low setting on each one

 

and one part of the camp,

 

one and the other part of camp.

 

And I put them on low and it lights up

 

the whole camp and it

 

gives a nice little glow.

 

Y'all have seen the

 

nighttime podcast down here.

 

The only light I have was a Lucy overhand

 

and you know these

 

things are amazing little

 

lights.

 

They put out a ton of light.

 

That's it.

 

Nothing more, nothing less.

 

And I have not used any

 

other lights for this show.

 

I haven't used any other

 

lights while I was camping.

 

So for the Lucy's, the Lucy's and

 

Luminae's, this is it.

 

That's all the light I need.

 

So anyway, without rambling on, that's it

 

for this week's podcast.

 

I really enjoyed you being

 

here and I thank you so much.

 

And remember Happy Thanksgiving.

 

We have a lot to be thankful for.

 

All of us do.

 

And I really want you to reflect this

 

week on what you do

 

have to be thankful for.

 

And take a moment, take a

 

moment to think about it.

 

You don't have to be a Bible carrying

 

believer to be thankful

 

for something that's in your

 

life.

 

But if you're not, that is

 

the reason why you have it.

 

So remember, in all

 

your ways, acknowledge Him.

 

I'll see you next time.

 

God bless you.

 

Thanks for sitting

 

around the fire with me today.

 

If this episode gave you something to

 

think about, if it

 

helped you feel a little bit

 

more prepared or it even stirred your

 

faith a tiny bit, go ahead

 

and share it with someone

 

else who might need it as well.

 

We don't go camping

 

to run away from life.

 

We come out here to slow

 

down and to recharge

 

So grab another log, throw it

 

on the fire and remember this.

 

In all your ways, acknowledge Him.

 

And He will direct your path.

 

I'll see you next time.

 

God bless you.