This past weekend, students from the
For those who don’t know, the purpose of the retreat is to have a time away from the pressures of school where the students can both study the word of God more intensely than during a normal week. This week also serves to give the students time to build relationships with one another that are so very important to the Christian walk.
We asked Sam Barrington, a minister a at church in
His first talk was titled “Tapping into God’s energy source” where he stressed the importance of remembering the power of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives, especially when we need that “spiritual energy boost” to be able to continue on.
Sam’s second talk was called “Entering Into Training” and he focused on encouraging us to stop trying to be like Christ, and to start Training to be like Christ. His thesis was that training is something that one can do now by sheer effort, to build up strength to have the ability to do something that they cannot do now by sheer effort.
Finally Sam talked about how to handle those spiritual low times. Sam directed us towards the Psalms and reminded us that it is good to be honest with God and oneself when experiencing a spiritual low. Sam pointed to many of David’s Psalms that express frustration, despair, and a questioning attitude towards God.
There was also much to do in the way of building relationships between students. Besides having some free time to simply talk and learn more about each other, there were many activities that the students good participate in.
Some of the many activities that students took part in were: Ultimate Frisbee, Basketball, Rock Climbing, riflery, archery, Horse-back riding, campfire, and sliding down large pipes on plastic snow sleds.
All in all, it was a good week for deepening our relationship with God as well as creating new relationships, and deepening our already cherished relationships with one another. Thanks to everyone who went to the trip, and to everyone who made it possible!