Winter Retreat 2011

Whew - been awhile since I've posted anything.  Yikes.  Things have been a bit crazy and out of control lately...and the blog has suffered.  Sorry!  Our last post was right after Snow-mageddon 2011 back in early Feb.   And how ironic that we're projected to get up to another 6" tonight?  Snow?  HA!  I laugh in the face of snow!  Bring it on!

Speaking of snow, a few weeks ago (Feb. 11-13) I took 44 high school students and leaders up to Lake Geneva, WI for our annual Oasis Winter Retreat.  Seems like every year is unique in one way or another - and this year was no exception.  Beautiful weather, plenty of snow, and a great opportunity for our students to spend time with one another and rally around our theme, "Truth on Trial".

We spent our weekend wrestling with understanding the truth of Jesus Christ, as he is revealed to us in Scripture, specifically the book of John.  This lead to some great discussions during our Sat. night meeting where we (the adult leaders) fielded questions our students had submitted to us on index cards and answered them from the front.  We didn't have time to go through all the questions, but some of them were pretty amazing to answer:

• "Jesus is truth, so why do people not believe in his truth?  Why is it so hard for people to understand?"
• "In John 18:37-38 Jesus had said, 'Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.' But there are people who aren't Christians and still pursue the truth.  How does that exactly work?"
• "With so many other religions out there, how do you know for sure that Christianity is right?  What if it's a coincidence?"
• "How does one gain the passion to pursue God completely, faithful to spiritual disciplines?  I know it comes from God, but truly, what does that mean?  If all you have to do is breakdown and submit to Jesus, then why can I not read my Bible and pray daily?  It's frustrating...."

 After our meeting was done, the discussions only continued as a few smaller groups picked up and kept asking more questions to some of the adult leaders....some until 12:30 in the morning!

The weekend gave us a great opportunity to get away as a group and enjoy some time together, which was a lot of fun.  But it also gave us the chance to engage in some deep conversations and point students back to Scripture and challenge them with the truth that is there.  And THAT is what retreats are all about....