Some of you back home are probably wondering what the heck is going on with me. Well, I just got back from Powerhouse (the 18-25 year old ministry) Summer Retreat.
It was a life-changing experience. Here's a little something I wrote on my facebook account:
It's amazing to me that just when you feel like you're standing strong, God reminds you that you still need Him to hold you up. Retreat was a GREAT time of refreshing, a time to reevaluate my relationship with my Creator, and fall in love with Him all over again. I'M ALL IN FOR 2010.
We got there Thursday evening, where we had our first night rally. Then we had a morning and night rallies on Friday and Saturday. In between the morning and night rallies, we headed to the beach. Terrigal Beach to be exact.
Here are some highlights to the messages that were spoken there that really stood out to me:
Danielle Jeyaratnam (one of the youth pastor's wife) spoke about living set apart. One thing she said that stood out to me was:
"We are set apart by Him, but are we set apart for Him?"
The most impacting message for me was the last night's message. April Miller (another one of the youth pastor's wife) made an analogy to following God and poker. Sounds like a weird combination, I know. But she explained how in poker there is a term that most people know called "going all in". She explained that there are many different ways to play poker - you can play afraid, you can play rough, you can play bluffing. You can back out when you think you've got a bad hand. Or you can go all in, despite the possibility of failure.
She did all this to demonstrate what life is like. We are all in different situations. Different seasons in life bring different things (or "hands"). Will we choose to back out and give up, or will we choose to go all in, give it all, despite the fear and possibility of failure?
April explained that we need to go all in for Christ, just as David did in 1 Samuel 17 with Goliath. Everyone around him was saying that he couldn't do it, but David didn't listen. Further on in verse 56, David is no longer referred to as a boy, but a man. A significant sacrifice was required of him - possibly his very own life. But David knew who God was and who he was in God. So he went all in. What an amazing testimony.
These messages, and the rest that were preached, really challenged me to make a decision. Either I can go all in or not go in at all. There's no room for half-heartedness in the Kingdom. I feel like I have been half-hearted for quite a while now in my relationship with God. If there is one thing I would like to see happen this year in my life, it's that God be praised and glorified. I'm all in for 2010.
