A faithful reader (I always wanted to say that) asked about the new picture on the blog. It was taken as our bus rolled through the countryside of Brazil on our journey to a retreat site on our trip this summer. After spending a few days in the city filled with high rise buildings and crowds of people, it was a beautiful view of peace and serenity.
I spent the weekend on a similar journey. I had the good fortune of going to Camp Deer Run with our youth group to study and talk about the theme for this year – The Journey. It was a great experience and one that I will probably have several posts about over the next few days and weeks.
No cell phones and no iPods and I think a lot of the kids really liked it that way. There were moments of peace and serenity, TAWG (time alone with God), group study and active games. The most incredible part though was hearing some of these young people really open up and be very honest in talking about their lives and what they need to change. It was both beautiful and challenging to hear someone so young be so real about who they are and where they have got off course in their walk with God.
Thanks to Jacob for letting me be a part of the journey. I am closer to God today for being a part of it.
WayOutWise 
I was bummed this year that I didn’t get to go – going and spending time with the youth “away from their normal life” is always a great experience for me. I feel like I get to see the “real them”. Mark had a great time, and I hope your opinion of him didn’t change too much seeing him at Camp Deer Run – his favorite place on Earth.
My opinion of him only got better. He’s great at church and just gets better at CDR.I was happy to be on a retreat with hot water since the only two I’ve been on lately were in Brazil!