Maybe that was a poor title choice. Not "hangover" in the typical sense, but "hangover" in the sense of I just spent close to 45 hours trapped in close quarters with a group of teenagers and student ministry leaders.
Driving time: 1 hour 55 minutes
Sleep time: 11 hours
Silence: 35 minutes
Time spent in frigid lake water: 15 seconds
Amount of video: 2 hours
Board Game time: 4 hours 15 minutes
Swinging socks full of flour: 45 minutes
I wrestle with how to answer the question "How was the weekend?"
It was fun. It was tiring. It was frustrating. I was disappointed. I was moved. I was taught. It was long. It was short. It was exciting. It was burdensome. It was random. It was flexible.
I dunno. It just WAS.
My current point of mental processing had me weighing the long term spiritual merits of these weekends away. I don't think there's anything bad to say, but I wonder if we could do things better.
I really tried to design a weekend around the concept of "retreat". Withdraw from the usual routine. Take time for solitude and silence.
We tried not to over schedule with a billion things to do. We were flexible and had to change stuff on the fly. Our teaching times consisted of reading the Bible and listening to each other. We tried to carve out time to just play together and have fun. We unplugged the instruments and let our voices sing about who God is and what He means to us.
But...the questions still haunts me. Did every student have an opportunity to connect with their Creator this weekend? Did every student have a chance to hear that they are loved and valued? Did every student have time to not just hear about God, but to experience Him? What work did God do "behind the scenes" that we may never know about?
I probably shouldn't be in the office or working today. I'm hitting the wall and running on fumes...use whatever metaphor you would like. I just now that this current pace is not sustainable.
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