Retreat 2017
Y’already know what it is, so every year my church has a summer retreat where we go away for a weekend of like worship, games, fun and fellowship. Retreat is always something I’ve looked forward to, but this year was much different. I can safely say that this year, I honestly didn’t wanna go. Like some years I’ll feel like man, I’m not gonna have fun but I’ll suck it up...this year I just straight up didn’t wanna go. But something inside of me was like “hey Rod, just give it a chance.” I just remember sitting down with my friend as the retreat was about to start...seeing a bunch of kids and teens sitting around us...my friend and I looking at each other like wow why’re we here, man we look so outta place LOL. But as the weekend progressed, my mentality and my feelings changed drastically...and God really hit me hard and answered a lot of the questions I’ve been having for a real long time (but I’ll talk about that another time).
For one...the theme verse for this years retreat...James 1:2-4. It may or may not be familiar to you, but for me...well that’s the same exact verse I have tattooed on my arm, it’s also my first tattoo and the one that means the most to me. Right then and there, seeing that that was the theme verse for the retreat, I knew for sure that was no coincidence...that was God hitting me with the “bruh, c’mon now” face. So the whole retreat, we kept going back to that verse and it was just overall really refreshing...a reminder that trials are necessary, to look past them and see the purpose and end goal. To find joy knowing that if there’s trial, there’s something so much better that were being prepared and refined for.
To sum this retreat up...it was honestly being able to talk to, chill and hang out with people I don’t normally and never get the chance to. The first day, I came a bit early...so my boy and another guy I don’t really talk to that often chilled in my room for like 2 hours just playing board games and talking. After the program had finished, the night was ours to just chill and hang out. So first we went to McDonald’s and we made my boy do the ‘In My Feelings’ challenge LOL. It somehow blew up and ppl who didn’t even follow me on Instagram saw it. But lemme tell you the highlight of the retreat was definitely water pong, this stupid kid (LOL) asked me beforehand hey let’s play water pong at retreat (beer pong with water) and I was like bruh, whatever I don’t mind, wondering if he was semi joking. So I see him at retreat and he’s like yo I brought cups and ping pong balls LOL. I’m actually glad he did because it was really fun and brought a lot of different people together. Apologizes to the cleaning lady tho lol. So it was maybe like 12 or 1 ish and I was going back and forth between rooms just chilling with different people when I saw one of the kids walking by herself so I was like oh hey why don’t you join one of the rooms and like chill with them. She didn’t really seem bout it so I asked if she wanted to go play pool and talk or something. We ended up chilling for like 2 hours...it was super random, fun and personal all at the same time lol. We both just kept asking each other random, personal and dumb questions. So thank you for that, it was a good time. So after that I went back to my room and my boy was still awake so we ended up talking for another 2 hours just about life and how we’ve been and what we’ve been up to cuz we haven’t caught up in a while. I had to be like yeah we should sleep cuz it was 5 am and we had to get up at 8 for breakfast lol.
So day 2...lemme tell you I was so excited for breakfast cuz my friend kept hyping it up saying there was hot foods and stuff. BRO, there was muffins, toast and cereal...I could’ve slept in for another hour, hella cheesed LOL. Lunch was cool cuz these 2 kids asked to sit with my boy and I and yeah, I never really talked to them that much so it was nice being able to sit down and chat with them about random stuff. The day was definitely a blur cuz I was running on 3 hours of sleep...napped here and there, water pong here and there. Then it was dinner and it was cool sitting in a booth with like 6 of us guys just chilling...it reminded me of like when my boys used to come to retreat and we would squad up. So yeah that night, again I was really back and forth between rooms cuz I wanted to chill with as many different people as possible. My friend wanted to show me a book she was reading and it really hit me the segment that she wanted me to see. I won’t go into super detail, maybe I’ll save it for another time...but one thing it said was how we focus so much on the differences we have with people in church rather than the similarities, rather the most important similarity that we love God. That really hit me cuz coming into retreat I was all like man...none of my friends are going, I’m older than everyone, they’re all kids, what am I gonna talk to them about and just all these questions and worries about how we’re so DIFFERENT that I didn’t really think to see that we might have a lot in common as well.
Retreat this year was honestly such a good time, well I guess one reason is cuz I had low expectations, but God really used this opportunity to speak to me. To take me away from my friends, my comfort zone, put me in a new, scary and different environment and challenge me to really be there and make the most of it. It also wasn’t until yesterday night when I was in bed thinking about this post that it really, really hit me. Everything that I’ve been questioning and thinking about had suddenly become much, much clearer. Where I am, where do I wanna be? What is my calling? Is this the place for me? So yeah, that was my weekend...it gives me hope and excitement for not only next years retreat but just everything leading up to it...seeing where God leads me and this church. So yeah, till next time...peace out.
Y’already know what it is, so every year my church has a summer retreat where we go away for a weekend of like worship, games, fun and fellowship. Retreat is always something I’ve looked forward to, but this year was much different. I can safely say that this year, I honestly didn’t wanna go. Like some years I’ll feel like man, I’m not gonna have fun but I’ll suck it up...this year I just straight up didn’t wanna go. But something inside of me was like “hey Rod, just give it a chance.” I just remember sitting down with my friend as the retreat was about to start...seeing a bunch of kids and teens sitting around us...my friend and I looking at each other like wow why’re we here, man we look so outta place LOL. But as the weekend progressed, my mentality and my feelings changed drastically...and God really hit me hard and answered a lot of the questions I’ve been having for a real long time (but I’ll talk about that another time).
For one...the theme verse for this years retreat...James 1:2-4. It may or may not be familiar to you, but for me...well that’s the same exact verse I have tattooed on my arm, it’s also my first tattoo and the one that means the most to me. Right then and there, seeing that that was the theme verse for the retreat, I knew for sure that was no coincidence...that was God hitting me with the “bruh, c’mon now” face. So the whole retreat, we kept going back to that verse and it was just overall really refreshing...a reminder that trials are necessary, to look past them and see the purpose and end goal. To find joy knowing that if there’s trial, there’s something so much better that were being prepared and refined for.
To sum this retreat up...it was honestly being able to talk to, chill and hang out with people I don’t normally and never get the chance to. The first day, I came a bit early...so my boy and another guy I don’t really talk to that often chilled in my room for like 2 hours just playing board games and talking. After the program had finished, the night was ours to just chill and hang out. So first we went to McDonald’s and we made my boy do the ‘In My Feelings’ challenge LOL. It somehow blew up and ppl who didn’t even follow me on Instagram saw it. But lemme tell you the highlight of the retreat was definitely water pong, this stupid kid (LOL) asked me beforehand hey let’s play water pong at retreat (beer pong with water) and I was like bruh, whatever I don’t mind, wondering if he was semi joking. So I see him at retreat and he’s like yo I brought cups and ping pong balls LOL. I’m actually glad he did because it was really fun and brought a lot of different people together. Apologizes to the cleaning lady tho lol. So it was maybe like 12 or 1 ish and I was going back and forth between rooms just chilling with different people when I saw one of the kids walking by herself so I was like oh hey why don’t you join one of the rooms and like chill with them. She didn’t really seem bout it so I asked if she wanted to go play pool and talk or something. We ended up chilling for like 2 hours...it was super random, fun and personal all at the same time lol. We both just kept asking each other random, personal and dumb questions. So thank you for that, it was a good time. So after that I went back to my room and my boy was still awake so we ended up talking for another 2 hours just about life and how we’ve been and what we’ve been up to cuz we haven’t caught up in a while. I had to be like yeah we should sleep cuz it was 5 am and we had to get up at 8 for breakfast lol.
So day 2...lemme tell you I was so excited for breakfast cuz my friend kept hyping it up saying there was hot foods and stuff. BRO, there was muffins, toast and cereal...I could’ve slept in for another hour, hella cheesed LOL. Lunch was cool cuz these 2 kids asked to sit with my boy and I and yeah, I never really talked to them that much so it was nice being able to sit down and chat with them about random stuff. The day was definitely a blur cuz I was running on 3 hours of sleep...napped here and there, water pong here and there. Then it was dinner and it was cool sitting in a booth with like 6 of us guys just chilling...it reminded me of like when my boys used to come to retreat and we would squad up. So yeah that night, again I was really back and forth between rooms cuz I wanted to chill with as many different people as possible. My friend wanted to show me a book she was reading and it really hit me the segment that she wanted me to see. I won’t go into super detail, maybe I’ll save it for another time...but one thing it said was how we focus so much on the differences we have with people in church rather than the similarities, rather the most important similarity that we love God. That really hit me cuz coming into retreat I was all like man...none of my friends are going, I’m older than everyone, they’re all kids, what am I gonna talk to them about and just all these questions and worries about how we’re so DIFFERENT that I didn’t really think to see that we might have a lot in common as well.
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