rk11: stand

this is a little delayed, but i wanted to post a little bit about a retreat/trip i took beginning of this month. rekindle is the spring break trip that our church's college ministry, mission 28, takes to laguna beach, florida every year. this year was my 5th rekindle - can you believe it? i graduated high school in 2006 at the tender age of 16 and came into mission 28 that fall just turned 17 (my birthday is in july). my first rekindle was in march 2007. each year i get older i look forward to it more and more because i do not know how many more i will have a chance to go to. i have been feeling like its time to begin to shift out of mission 28 and to serve in other areas in the church - so preparing and going to this year's rekindle was special for me. i'm not sure if this year's rekindle was the last i'll go to or not, but it was the last for some of my friends who have been coming as long as i have (or longer!). being in mission 28 for almost 6 years i have seen a lot of changes. its shifted from being a lot of people older than me and friends of my sister's to then being all my friends and in the last years i have seen a good number of my friends get married and move on. although it takes time for me to adjust every year as each year i am bumped more and more into the much smaller "older" section of mission 28, i am so excited to see how m28 regenerates and progresses each year. every semester there are new people and i am glad to see how new faces soon turn into the core regular members of the group. having worked for mission 28 as an intern for 2 years i have a special joy in seeing the ministry succeed and progress in new directions.

all that to say - i was super excited to go to rekindle this year. i don't know everyone in mission 28 now like i used to and there are a lot of new faces that i got to meet at rekindle - some for the first time. it was also wonderful to get to spend rekindle with the remaining "old crowd". i think because the format of every rekindle in pretty much the same - we stay in the same place, hear from (in general) the same pastors, and the schedule is the same - no matter how much changes in mission 28, whenever we go down to laguna beach christian retreat center is feels like my old mission 28.  it is cool to stand in some of the same places i've stood year after year and worship to some of the same songs and to think back on the past 6 years and all the things the lord has brought me through, the ways he has grown me and how much more i love the lord than the first time i came to rekindle. its like snapshots of the past rekindles come back to me.

i went down with the early crew - a group of people that go down early to set up the room and decorate. it was a particularly fun early crew with lots of laughs and inside jokes. the room turned out fabulous too which is always rewarding.

i used to take pictures when i went places but the older i get the less i care about taking pictures. in some ways i like to remember things in my minds eye rather than by pictures. also- to me pictures are a form of art and since i only have a little point and shoot at the moment i don't really care to take time away from enjoying an event just to snap some average pictures. hopefully soon i will get a film camera and learn how to use it and begin to post more lovely pictures on here. but i did take one solitary picture. the sunset was very beautiful one night so i snapped it. i also took a little video to remember what the view looked like.

the theme of the week's messages was STAND. standing for christ, standing together, etc. basically being faithful in your christian walk. i particularly enjoyed the teachings this year. typically by the last few messages at the end of the week i'm tired and have a hard time paying attention, but i just remember sitting there on wednesday night and being surprised when i realized that the next morning was the last message. we haven't gotten the messages uploaded to the mission 28 website yet, but when we do i'll posts links here in case you want to listen to them (which i would recommend). 

all in all it was a wonderful rekindle - almost my favorite of all. there was a bittersweet specialness about this one as if after this everything would probably change even more than it has. and i'm sure it will.. it always does. the only thing you can depend on is that life will always change. things never stay the same. i'm learning to be grateful for the change rather than cling to old things. who knows where i'll be by march 2012 but i guess we'll just have to wait and see!

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.'" - Lamentations 3:22-24