old becomes new

This weekend, I went on InterVarsity's New Student Retreat. We went out to a retreat center outside Manville, IL. (Incidentally, because of this, I missed going to Turkey Run, IN -- it was definitely worth every moment, though; my mom said that instead of running with the turkeys, I decided to become a man. I wish.) The drive took a rather (somewhat thankfully) uneventful one and a half hours to get down (up?) to Manville Nazerene Camp; we were 30 minutes late, but thankfully they didn't start till a short time after we arrived. This is not true of all the groups, mind you; there were a number of groups that got majorly lost along the way, but I think they all arrived safely, so that was good.

So my weekend was filled with lots of, well, a whole lotta stuff. First and foremost, because it was a retreat, was worship and bible study. Really great times of being able to give praise to God, delve into the Bible, and listen to what He had to say. We sung many different praise choruses, several of which I hadn't heard before, one of which we actually sung in parts, and a couple that were in Spanish; note that I know essentially zero Spanish, and yet they were some of the coolest songs because we knew that they were still about God's glory and awesomeness (partially thanks to translations).

Coming out of this retreat, I can safely say that my relationship with Jesus Christ is a tighter, closer one now. In Him have I been re-energized; renewed in God's holy Son, I know there's nothing in His strength that I cannot face. Going out with a transparent soul that leaves nothing hidden, with boldness and courage to face hard times, hard situations, and hard questions -- I give the glory to God.

Back at the retreat, we also had plenty of free time, in which we socialized, played games, the whole shebang. Playing ultimate frisbee, I once again realized just how out of shape I am; I hope to change that, though right now I don't have a good regiment planned atm. I abstained from the 6-handed eucker, though their enthusiasm for it was quite impressive. I did, on the other hand, learned of a new type of chess: Super King. White is given all the regular pieces, whereas Black is restricted to three pawns and a super king -- a king that can move up to two squares in a turn. This has amazing possibilities, such as taking guarded pieces (landing out of check) and even checkmating white with only the king (b/c can move two spaces). Very bizarre and mind-boggling.

We also had a time of frolicking. That is to say, we danced and skipped and spun around on a field for like 15 minutes. Quite refreshing actually; I recommend it as a stress reliever, assuming you don't mind your neighbors giving you funny looks.

Been my best weekend in an eternity. Wouldn't give it up for anything. Well, maybe two retreats.