Return from Retreating!
Well I'm back from the New Life Retreat. Good stuff there. Had lots of fun, learned a lot about faith, and built relationships with people.
So Steve Hayes (NLC Pastor) gave a great talk on Friday night. Incredibly motivating. The talk was on Faith. I think I took three pages of notes. Some highlights are:
Faith is the key to God's Power
When God sees a problem, he looks for a person to solve it
God cares about our trivial needs
God values things in people radically different than our culture does: Do we?
We like to create an image of God in our minds and doubt the character of this god. This god is not the God of the Bible.
Alright, thats enough highlights. But it was good. Afterwards I had an interesting dialog with God in my journal afterwards. Basically that consisted of God telling me that I had the capacity for real faith but that as of now I was working off of other people's faith. He told me I had to fight for the Faith that can be in me. I decided that I am ready to fight. Every morning I need to make a decision to have faith in God despite my current doubts, despite my current situation. I've also experienced the joy of choosing to worship God. How intense.
So during a quiet time at the retreat I wandered around and took pictures. Only one ended up being any good, but its really good. I'd post it but I don't know how. So if you know how, leave me an explanatory comment. That'd be cool.
So other stuff:
Sarah and I were able to talk and set up difinitives for out break up. There is now no expectation to get back together. However, we are still very good friends, so that's cool. I have decided to take a year off of dating, to learn how to properly view relationships, to focus on God and let Him fully develop my character. Good stuffs. So ladies, you're gonna have to wait till October 1, 2006. ;)
So yay. Good stuff. Now for bad stuff.
If you decide you want to be shocked and appalled, you may want to check out www.churchofeuthanasia.org/ and look at their mission statements. I found the FAQ especially disturbing. So yeah. Its incredible how people can think that by voluntarily killing themselves or refusing to procreate is actually an act of compassion. Strangely cultish. So yeah. Enjoy the eve.
So Steve Hayes (NLC Pastor) gave a great talk on Friday night. Incredibly motivating. The talk was on Faith. I think I took three pages of notes. Some highlights are:
Faith is the key to God's Power
When God sees a problem, he looks for a person to solve it
God cares about our trivial needs
God values things in people radically different than our culture does: Do we?
We like to create an image of God in our minds and doubt the character of this god. This god is not the God of the Bible.
Alright, thats enough highlights. But it was good. Afterwards I had an interesting dialog with God in my journal afterwards. Basically that consisted of God telling me that I had the capacity for real faith but that as of now I was working off of other people's faith. He told me I had to fight for the Faith that can be in me. I decided that I am ready to fight. Every morning I need to make a decision to have faith in God despite my current doubts, despite my current situation. I've also experienced the joy of choosing to worship God. How intense.
So during a quiet time at the retreat I wandered around and took pictures. Only one ended up being any good, but its really good. I'd post it but I don't know how. So if you know how, leave me an explanatory comment. That'd be cool.
So other stuff:
Sarah and I were able to talk and set up difinitives for out break up. There is now no expectation to get back together. However, we are still very good friends, so that's cool. I have decided to take a year off of dating, to learn how to properly view relationships, to focus on God and let Him fully develop my character. Good stuffs. So ladies, you're gonna have to wait till October 1, 2006. ;)
So yay. Good stuff. Now for bad stuff.
If you decide you want to be shocked and appalled, you may want to check out www.churchofeuthanasia.org/ and look at their mission statements. I found the FAQ especially disturbing. So yeah. Its incredible how people can think that by voluntarily killing themselves or refusing to procreate is actually an act of compassion. Strangely cultish. So yeah. Enjoy the eve.