The Glen in Oh-Ten, Part II

okay, so I left off last time when it was partly through the week and now I'll get to the last half :)

So, Tuesday was focused on prayer, and our speakers were Vic and Lindy Black. I had never heard of them but oh man they were good! They really emphasized listening to God and they performed a skit together at the beginning, with how we usually pray to God, and it basically was exactly how I pray sometimes!! Vic played Jesus and Lindy came in and basically talked a mile a minute about random things, would stop to answer a text, then launch back into prayers, ask questions to God about how to handle things and keep on plowing through! It was really funny to watch and see how "Jesus" handled it, because whenever she would ask him a question about how to handle something he would begin to talk and then she'd just cut him off because she didn't stop to listen. Yeah, I definitely do that!! So it really challenged me to be more still before God and when I ask Him questions to actually listen for once. It was really good and it struck a chord with everyone there I talked to!

They also discussed Hebrews 4:14-16: "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" and how we need to hold firmly to the faith we profess, and not just hold it loosely like we don't care what happens to it. They said that in verse 16 it says we can now approach the throne with confidence, not due to us, however, and how much of a "catch" we think we are, but because of what Jesus did for us. Vic also said that in the original Greek text, the word "help" in v. 16 was the word "frap," which had a nautical meaning to it. Basically, back then, when their ships were in a storm the sailors would throw huge, thick ropes around the entire ship to hold it together so it wouldn't fall apart, and he said that's exactly what Jesus does for us - He wraps us up tightly for any and every circumstance. I just loved that picture because it has been proven time and time again in my life and it's such a picture of the unending and unfailing love God has for us!!

Then that day my workshop was also on prayer (all the workshops dealt with the theme of the day) and mine talked about getting the right idea of who we pray to. He looked over the Lord's Prayer and how we can really come to God with anything on our hearts, even the bad stuff. He had us look up certain passages and one stood out to me, it was Jeremiah 17:5-8 which compared putting your hope in man versus God and how those who trust in man are like bushes in a desert, because they're not able to grow and their surroundings are deserts, whereas those who place their hope in God are like trees on the banks of a river, which always bear fruit and don't fear the changing seasons because it will always be provided for. What a picture of God's love - again!! It was almost overwhelming just how often God says over and over to come to Him and He won't return void.

That night I had a mini-crisis because I was just feeling so incompetent and jealous towards other people for no real reason at all and I was just struggling with bitterness and feelings of not being good enough. So once the day was through I had a looooong walk with God about it and just poured out all I was feeling, down to the last icky prideful emotions. And I came to the conclusion that I just need to be me, no one else, because we already have a diverse staff and we don't need two of the same person. I basically had to say out loud that I'm just going to try to be me from now on, and stop trying to be other people because that doesn't do me any good. And then I felt a lot better having cleared that up!! Goodness, lots of highs and lows in the same day!!

And with that I'll leave it until tomorrow, but here are some more pictures :)


This was at Garden of the Gods, with me, Kaylynn, Sandra and Janet all doing a jumping pose, and this is at varying heights of jump-ness....


This is Alex (from my small group) and I at the women's tea (held in the castle - sweeet!!). Incidentally, all our napkins were alternating colors of red and gold - hmm, methinks the organizers were secret Trojan fans :)


We had a board game night on Monday I think it was, and a bunch of us played Apples to Apples, and this is a *posed* picture with Sandra (fellow staffer), myself and Kaylynn. I didn't really cheat, and I won the most anyways!!


This is when we hiked up to Dawson Trotman's grave, one of the founders of the Navigators, and this was his gravestone. I hope to follow in his footsteps and always have a heart for God and for people!


This is Elizabeth, Shannon and myself at the top of the hike, and some more good news - Shannon accepted Christ into her heart just this past Tuesday!!! God is MOVING!!


This was the last night, and it was Robbie, Victor and Pablo in the back, then Enoch, Janet, Rani and myself in the front and it was a festive occasion because Rani used to be in my small group last year but she transferred to CU at Boulder this year so we got to re-connect for a day!! It was great to see her :)


This was the morning we left and it turned into NARNIA while we slept!! It was SO BEAUTIFUL though!! All of us from California loved it, while everyone else from Oklahoma and Texas were sick of it....


Lauren and I were super excited about all the snow and we danced around in it :) All of us met at this one cabin to bring our luggage and load up, and most of the people in the cabin were from USC, but there were a few from OU, including a dear friend of mine who I met when I did Project Impact, Lindsay, and I bounced to her room yelling "IT'S SNOWING!!" which she wasn't as happy about as I was....maybe it was the fact that she's also not a morning person while I very much am :)

And I'll wrap up tomorrow with tales of our drive home, and you may be thinking, how could a drive home be interesting to read about? Well, let me just tease you with this - it took us 33-34 hours and THREE buses to get back. Memories were created which we'll never forget, for good or for ill......



And here's the funny of the day :)