retreating

This past week United Life retreated to a vacation home in North Bend located between Mount Si, Rattlesnake Ledge, and Twin Falls State Park for three days. Although we didn't go far geographically (North Bend is only about an hour away from Seattle), spiritually we definitely got somewhere. 

Specifically, last week was a great time for us to taste and see what God was all about. Often we act and think like we'll never see God at work. Last week, however, our speakers Abe and Boyoon Gin led us through some real practical (yet simultaneously spiritual...the two are not mutually exclusive) prayer exercises, exercises that challenged us to have faith that God is alive and active and speaking. 

Isn't it funny that Christians who profess belief in God actually have a hard time really believing that he is living and active? Granted, there have been many, many examples throughout history of people abusing the possibility of an active voice of God. When I was a child, for a light example, another student pretended to be God's voice telling me they saw me doing something bad and that I should ask forgiveness (kids can be so messed up!). Sadly, worse examples, of course, are bountiful.   

But just because bad has been done, doesn't mean the core message isn't true. Followers of Christ need to know that Christ not only believed in a God who was living and active, but Christ promised the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is God present and alive in our world today. And not only believe, but act on this as well. 

So this past week we had a lot of really practical and straightforward chances to do this: praying through hurtful experiences from our pasts, confessing, receiving and giving forgiveness to one another, even going through a simple of exercise of picturing our own hearts and asking God to give us a picture of how he wants to heal them. No crazy, emotional fireworks, just the basic work of bringing situations, memories, and feelings to God and asking him to actively speak into them today. 

Sometimes our picture of God gets in the way of what he's actually doing and what he's actually like. We need, however, to be open to let him move in the way he wants to, even if he chooses to act in simple, straightforward ways.