Retreat was over for me about eight and a half hours ago and I figured it would be proper for me to recap some things.
I went to this retreat not particularly expecting anything overly dramatic or seemingly life changing. I think this usually happens for people (or just me) when they/I happen to be helping out. It was interesting since Gabe echoed these thoughts (sort of) when he expressed a fear that this retreat might end up as just another hype-fest with no lasting effect. That’s… kind of the same thing, right? Going in without any of these “bad” expectations left me more ripe for “whatever happens happens.”
During retreat I felt either very full of energy or extremely tired. I don’t know why this was since I didn’t eat anything full of caffeine nor did I lack any sleep (I had about eight hours of sleep each night). This left me very excited for half the time and dead tired for the other half. Discussions, naturally, weren’t very focused along with me constantly being distracted during messages. It’s not like I didn’t remember anything preached but it was just that much more difficult to absorb stuff.
Speaking of discussions, I had a great time rooming with Rafael and Henrick (they had a bedroom together but we shared the kitchen/washroom) since this meant we were constantly going everywhere with each other (to share the room key) and sharing all our stuff with one another. I suppose this would have been similar to having roommates. Apart from having Henrick hump my mattress (sans me), it was definitely good to have that kind of setting. We talked about lots of things (mostly unrepeatable here), and girls constantly came up (as topics, not up to our room). Rafael actually said that this is what he imagined girls’ sleepovers to be like, which was when both Henrick and I gave him a weird look. I also got to talking with Crystal at retreat which let us sort some stuff out which is always good IMO.
Retreat is one of those things that are kind of funny for Jaffray since we always seem to do more stuff at retreats than outside, which doesn’t make sense since there ought to be more relaxation and actual retreating from busyness. This retreat was like the latter. Instead of being crammed with activities this retreat was crammed with preaching and fellowship. That’s the way I like it.
Now it is post-retreat and I’ve begun working on my math stuff again (summer homework sucks but keeps me supple). I spent a good part of last night and this morning reading an essay on freewill/salvation (that you can find here) and though it’s a long read, I would encourage you to have a read, Christian or not, since it is written in the form of an argumentative essay with non-Christians as the targeted audience.
How was retreat for the rest of you TJCAC-ers? Leave a line in the comments if you’d like.