We stayed up at the top of the cliff (me keeping a good distance away from the edge) for about ten minutes. One of the guys that came along the trip was going to throw a stick (more like a foot long log) for Sheih-Mu. Sheih-Mu trotted for the "stick" and plumped down and started to pulverize it. The guy (I have no clue what his name is) who threw the "stick", came over to Sheih-Mu and was about to take the "stick" away from him and throw it again. Sheih-Mu didn't like that, so he started barking at him! It was so funny, every time the "guy" went over to Sheih-Mu, Sheih-Mu would bark at him; only him. I walked over to Sheih-Mu and started petting him and scratching his ears... he really smelled bad, "Hey Sheih-Mu! You just want to chew the stick, you don't want him to throw the stick do you?", I said in my most babyish way, the way I talk to my dogs. He seemed to really like this; the other girls came over to the lovely canine and did the same, "I can not believe this...", The "guy" said. So funny!
A half an hour later, I was walking up the steps to the Squirrel Cabin; as soon as I got in there my glasses fogged up! I was soaked to the bone, so my plan was to change into a new pair of dry jeans, make that everything dry! Then head back to the meet/eat cabin and hang out there like a few others were.
About twenty minutes later it was Cabin Time, where you meet up (at the meet/eat cabin) with your cabin roommates and leader and have a discussion...what about, well basically the same thing about worldview and how most people live and how we as Christians should live. Comparing those subjects, I should say, and which of those subjects God would want us to live by. Then it was dinner (again the meals came by really fast!).
After dinner, it was Game Time! I honestly don't like games because they want to make sure that everyone gets a turn; and that ain't so good for someone like me self who ain't that bubbly (sorry for the slang sentence, I just couldn't resist)! Want to guess what the game was? Family Feud! I had never heard of the game but everyone in the room was all like, "Oh Yeah! That is my all time favorite game!". We all had teams (green, blue, red, and black) I was on the blue team; and to make sure we knew what team we were on, they gave us colored hats depending what colored team you were on. It was fun! Luckily I didn't have to do much in the game; but still fun!
Then we had three hours of worship/listening to our youth pastor. You're probably thinking, "Wow! Three hours of worship...do they have like an intermission or something?".... nope! The title of our winter youth retreat was called Redemption, and we were going to learn what Redemption means from God's perspective. Redemption, from God's perspective, means redeeming yourself from the "dead" [meaning you haven't excepted God's gift (for more information about God's Gift, go to the it's my god page)], and redeeming yourself for life (excepting God's gift)! That night was awesome! We actually did worship for three and a half hours! When we were singing one of the last songs of the night, the generater blew. Right then and there. We all knew it was Satan, he did not want us to be worshiping God! But you know what the coolest thing was? We kept singing, and playing; without the amps or microphones... Satan: DEFEATED! My heart had felt so refreshed; before my heart felt like it weighed thousands of pounds of guilt and sin, but after that night I felt like I was floating! I felt so good.
One thing that really stood out to me that night from what our youth pastor said was, "Make everyday feel like you just redeemed yourself from the "dead"! You feel so good right now, but a week from today your life might seem like you never even went to this retreat; so act as if you just redeemed yourself for life, everyday!", He had a whole speach about that but those few sentences are what stuck with me.
After three and a half hours of worship, it was time to do Night Tubing! They had blaring lights so everyone could see where they were "tubing". I didn't want to let the moment with God slip away from me so I went the Squirrel Cabin to go to bed. Plus I was tired and that one day felt like three weeks! Ten-fortyfive pm...
Let me rap up the next day (the last day) in a nut shell. After breakfast we did worship and Jonathan spoke. He gave us three questions to think about before we left; who are you living to please?; how can we be set apart from the worldviews pattern?; how can we strive to be holy? We had a half an hour of God Time again; then the generater blew again when I was really getting into the verse I was reading. I just knew it was Satan trying to get back for last night. The room was dark, and the clouds were covering the sun. But then the wind blew the clouds away and the room got surprisingly bright! It was such a God Thing! Satan: (once again) DEFEATED!
To get the girls back down to the bus, the leaders had to drive them the three miles to where the bus was. Then the bus did it's job and drove us to a cute small town with cute small shops. I got Starbuck's for lunch (my favorite) and got a tall double chocolate chip frapachino and a nice, moist cranberry scone...mmmmm! We went to Subway for the people who didn't want Starbuck's. It was located in a gas station store, which I walked around and found the cutest looking sweat-shirt! It's blue and very soft. So I just had to get it, right?
After lunch we walked around and looked at some stores (most of which were very inappropriate), then I saw more of the sweat-shirts that I had got, some with cuter colors. I felt really bad because I thought I had chosen the wrong color for my new sweat-shirt! Then I looked around the store some more and realized that all that was in the store besides sweat-shirts, were really inappropriate things! Things I won't even get into. I was actually glad that I got my sweat-shirt at a gas station than at a chintzy, inappropriate store. I do not want my money to be put towards that!
A few hours later, I was home! I was at the kitchen table telling Mom and Dad the story I just told you; about how crazy and fun it was. I really had a great time! It wasn't what I expected, yet, not boring! After I told them the whole story; I ran up stairs, took a shower, unpacked, did a load of laundry, then hit my head on my fuzzy pillow so hard I thought I might pass out...and I did : )
*Allie*
1 comment:
Oh, Allie, what an amazing, fun and God-filled retreat you had!!! Thank you so much for sharing it all with us! That view you saw must be a lot like views I've seen in that same area...and yes! It's a beautiful and awesome sight...created by an awesome God! LYL, Grammy
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