Summerit 2007

So this Friday evening and Saturday, eight Campus for Christ-ers (+ Mandy's brother visiting from Alberta) descended upon Port Franks for a weekend of relaxation and all around good times. I do believe that these things were both accomplished quite well!

I was really encouraged this weekend especially by spending some time with Melissa who just got back from a year long STINT (Short Term InterNational Trip?) with Campus Crusade in Tanzania. Hearing her stories of how God triumphed over different issues in her visit was exciting (for one, it was 45 degrees Celsius down there with a 98% humidity... and she still survived!).

We also got the chance to write notes of encouragement to many of the recent grads (see picture below). This summer with Summer C4C we've been studying 1st and 2nd Timothy and it was really impressed upon me how *amazing* it must have been for Timothy to have words of encouragement in starting his ministry in a new city. So at Summerit this weekend we took the time to write notes of encouragement and thanks to recent grads. We managed to cover 11 people , all of whom will receive at least two notes. Surprisingly this took way longer than I expected and I know that we missed a lot of people being the double cohort grad year and all. Hopefully the Lord knew what He was doing when He inspired and brought to mind certain people to receive these letters. :P

This was the view from the picnic table where I did my devotions yesterday morning. I stayed there for almost two hours. The breeze was glorious. The warm sun was fantastic and the fellowship with the Lord was sweet. I will try to do my best to summarize what I learned this weekend, but it is one of those things that is oh so difficult to put into words. In so many situations in my recent history, I have been trying to foster an environment that encourages people to grow closer to the Lord. While this is a good intention, taking much of that responsibility upon ourselves denies what the Lord is really seeking to do -- for us to decrease and for Him to increase. Related to this lesson was also the revelation that God's actions are so spread out, in reference to Earthly timing, perhaps so that we don't take any credit ourselves for having been a part of the change. For instance, in the desire to have a family member come to know the Lord intimately; if this happened now, perhaps I would take credit for it... by the Lord moving as slowly as He seemingly does sometimes though, when it does happen, I will be more likely to have 100% confidence that it is by His efforts that my family will be saved and not my own.

On a lighter note, this is a picture of BH (Ben Harrison) giving me the "You think you're so clever" thumbs up after I became so puzzled as to how you could possibly rent sand castles. This was probably my ultimate blonde moment of the weekend. =)