Gigi's Blog

If you see a bear-don’t run.

Our trip to Ridgecrest was this past weekend.  This was the first weekend long event for Vision.  It was so exciting.  Well………………..exciting until I realized that preparation is a part of anything you are in charge of.  In defense of me-I just wasn’t able to spend the time up until to get ready like I’d initially envisioned.  So, last week, it was on.  Five lessons to study.  About 2 hr. prep per lesson, plus my other life.  The nervous breakdown moment was Thursday night when I had to attend a PTO meeting.  God helped me, and I did prepare.  Well, we did leave 45 minutes late because of me, but that is normal and wouldn’t have changed probably whether or not I would’ve been more prepared.

We stopped at the best little place in Black Mtn.  My Father’s Pizza.  There was a long wait, and now I know why.  The pizza is GOOD!!  We got there, finally.  I think we were all ready for whatever God had in store.

When Mark and I went in to check us in, there were sheets of yellow paper with the heading “Bears have been spotted in the area.”   It explained to us the things to do when we encounter bears, such as don’t panic, don’t run, flap your arms like a bird, and make loud noises.  We were all so glad to know that when a bear comes around, it’s not big deal.  Uh, ya right!!!  We stayed in the youth housing, and I love it.  There’s room for eight people to crowd in, and (1) bathroom!!  But that was ok. 

We started our Friday night lesson, and even though we were all completely exhausted, I think we all began to embrace the message in our study.  It was called “Jaded.”  Basically, many of us, most of us, probably all of us, begin our lives with a romanticized idea of how we think our lives will be.  By Saturday night, (our fourth lesson) things were getting very deep, and very spiritual.  We all answered questions that were private and painful, and sometimes we talked out loud.  Any time I referenced any person throughout the weekend I would say “A person, that you may or may not know, who may or may not be a boy, or who may or may not be a girl………………….” simply because I tried to protect privacy if I was talking about something I felt key to add to the group time.  The study was based on Hosea http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hosea1-14;&version=65; and it was fascinating.  God tell Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman, and then go and buy her back after unfaithfulness and love her completely.  We all were forced to go places emotionally that maybe we hadn’t gone to in a while, or maybe never gone to.

I loved the times when I was involved in conversations that were unplanned, at times the group was just doing there own thing.  God positioned the exact people together who needed to be.  I heard people open up and share in a way that I think was completely new for them.  I heard people say to each other “Wow.  I didn’t know you and I are in the same place.” or “Wow.  You’ve been where I am right now.”  Or “I’m gonna pray for you when we get back.”  My cousin Tiffany and her husband Carson who were recently saved went with us.  Oh I’m so glad they went.  They blew me away with what was an obvious joy of their salvation.  Carson is a total trip.  He’s sort of quiet, and the quiet ones can be the funniest.  During one session Tiffany was talking about the radical change in their lives and how her old desires left her immediately, and then she says something  to Carson like “right honey?” and he says “Transformers man.”  We all cracked up.  But I got it, and so did everyone else. 

Our third session was very meaningful.  We hiked to the top of the mountain.  That’s right-I hiked.  Mark was looking at the map, and at some point after we’d been hiking for a long time he said that we should possibly go back.  People were hot, Ashley D. has asthma.  We all said “No” we’d just keep going.  And then……………………..we were there!! We had made it.  I don’t know who was more surprised, me or Ashley D. But it was very poignant.  That mountain felt impossible.  We almost quit.  We were in pain.  We didn’t know exactly where we were going.    It seemed never ending. But then……….out of no where……………………the mountain top.  That’s what this weekend was about.  These struggles, and heartache, and issues, and problems, they all seem so impossible don’t they???  If we would’ve quit, we wouldn’t have reached the mountain top.  We could’ve said “Well, we almost made it to the mountain top.”  Is that what you want to say??  God didn’t create mountain top to never be reached.  He created them so that we could climb them, and get to the top.  It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.  James 1:2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.   

http://vision.chapelgrove.com/Ridgecrest-Oct-2008.htm

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