And we're off

I got back from a retreat that the interns had this weekend. It was an overall good experience, and I would like to think that I learned some things. I didn't know we had a ropes course there until like 3 days before we left so that was a nice surprise that I got to look forward to. I left with some road rash on my leg to remind me of it, so it was all in all a good weekend.

The ropes course was the first thing we did when we got there, and it was pretty cool, we divided up in to different groups based on how afraid we were of heights. I don't have any problem with heights so I went in the "not afraid" group and the courses were pretty fun and challenging. The guide guy was obviously used to having groups of much younger kids there though; he did the whole 6th grade camp "if you can hear me clap once" thing and the whole experience before and after the actual course seemed really jr. high. Come to think of it, the whole place did except for the sessions in one of the conference rooms.

The sessions were really good, very informative and insightful. I got some good answers on some issues that I thought up while playing devil's advocate with myself... To explain myself, I was trying to think of different arguments that I may hear against Christianity. Anyway, they were really good and at one point humbling. That's kind of what I want to talk about really quick though. I am really afraid of reading God in to things. I am also conflicted. What if I am reading the wrong things in to situations. What really opened me to this thought was this "picture of the day" thing. When we were asked to come up with a verbal picture of the day, I started thinking about what situations had happened that day and how I could relate God to them. It seemed really forced once I started thinking about it and that's when it hit me, I was trying to relate God to the situations, not the situations to God. I was trying to bend God around whatever situation I had come across instead of making the situation about God in the first place. And I don't think that's how it should be. And to be honest, I don't think that I was alone in doing this, however I do think I was alone in noticing this. I also think its not right that I wasn't being truthful about what I was experiencing.

I really did have one moment where I noticed God speaking to me. Actually it was more like him saying "not so fast". The last night, Herc caught me after dinner and asked if I could find lyrics to 4 songs and put them to music and on a powerpoint in 45 mins. I said let's do it and I got it done with literally minutes to spare. I was feeling awesome about what I had accomplished, and was pretty prideful if I would admit, but I didn't say anything about it. I struggle with being quietly arrogant and cockey, and God certainly decided to shut me up. When I was showing what I had done, when I was helping lead worship, I screwed it up by going too fast, then I went to the end of the presentation which made the program quit. So if nothing else, that weekend, I learned that pride definitely comes before the fall.