I had dream a few nights ago that Art wanted to get a tattoo on his forehead, and I BEGGED him not to. He wasn't happy. Man, what am I eating before bed? I gotta stop these dreams!
And what is up with this WIND?!!! Good grief, it's vicious out there! I had to fight the wind home three times today, and I'm truly quite angry at the wind. I know that it's a South wind, which means it's warming up, and the snow is disappearing without causing flooding.
But it's like a hurricane out there! Without the hurricane part. You know, all those hurricanes that we get on the prairies.
So where have I been? I keep randomly disappearing for a few days here and there, without warning. Well, like I mentioned before, work is only getting busier, so I don't really have time to blog at work, and I've also been busy at home as well. Plus, two other people who are my parents like to use the computer as well.
This last weekend I was on a youth retreat. And boy, was I exhausted. I pretty much lay around yesterday evening after I got home. I vegged on the computer, catching up on blogs. Because, you know, I had been gone for 2.5 days, so it was very important that I do some major blog reading. I so have my priorities straight.
After that I lay in bed and talked to Art on the phone, then I just lay in bed, then I lay in bed reading. Then I went to sleep. At 10:00 pm. Which might seem like a normal time to all you disciplined folk. But that is quite early for me. So you know that I was tired from retreat.
In all seriousness, retreat was as amazing and fun as it was exhausting - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. There were two other youth groups with us, and ours was by far the dominant. I mean, we're loud and intimidating when we don't have 55 kids. I was afraid that the other kids would be afraid, but they all meshed so well, and everybody became friends. Just one of many answered prayers.
All of us leaders were also in complete unity, which apparently isn't always normal. And we got many opportunities to pray for our kids and cover them in prayer, which has never happened on a retreat before, but it's so crucial.
Some people opened up about stuff in their life - people who normally don't share at all. So many kids heard from God, and it was all along the same line. They became bold, and shared what was on their hearts, and what God showed them. And many rededicated their lives to Jesus. And it was a serious dedication.
Our speaker (who was amazing) made sure that they knew what they were getting into - our motto was "I will make my boast in Christ alone." That means no more excuses for doing things half-heartedly. That means getting serious about the other things in their lives that are dragging them down, and getting rid of those things that don't glorify God.
I was so proud to see which kids stepped up - kids who have had the call of leadership on their lives for a while, but they were resisting. And what's even better is that they recognized that this isn't an emotional experience that only happened once. It needs to continue as they get back to their homes and to school and to routine.
There was one girl in particular that stepped up, and I got a chance to pray with her and for her, and to speak into her life. I've been wanting to mentor her into becoming a leader (specifically in worship), but I haven't really known how, and she's been flaky for a while. But now I'm excited to walk beside her on this new part of her journey.
I was also convicted about my half-heartedness in my relationship with Jesus. I know that God was preparing me for this weekend as well. I feel like I'm more and more in tune with what the Spirit is doing, in me, in others, in the church, in the youth group, in other churches. And I'm seeing more and more the need for me to spend time in prayer and in the Word. We did a lot of battling in the spirit for these kids' souls this weekend, and though we won some ground, it's only just begun.
Now we have to fight harder to keep that ground. We can't get weary and quit now. God has been pressing on my heart to continue to pray as urgently as I did when I was at retreat.
So yeah. Good. Tiring. Encouraging. Draining. Thought-provoking. Heart wrenching. Difficult on the nerves and eardrums. Not that there are kids in our youth group who are constantly loud and hyper or anything.... Nope. And the hyperest kid certainly didn't buy an energy drink for the bus ride home. And he definitely didn't put up a hysterical, psychotic fit when it was taken away from him. For half an hour.
And this same kid also did not walk out onto the not-so-frozen lake on Sunday morning, instilling fear and anger into the hearts of all the youth leaders. (Don't worry, he had just barely sense enough to come back and NOT fall through.)
And that was my weekend.
And now my contacts are protesting, and Art is supposed to call any minute. I also have some laundry to switch over, so I should haul myself downstairs. Maybe I'll actually post something tomorrow, instead of leaving you all high and dry for three days again.
Not that I've ever done that. Nope.
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