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| courtesy of Anna Donahue |
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| courtesy of Anna Donahue |
The first couple days consisted of orientation, which wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t the most fun thing in the world either. However, we took that time that we had and used it wisely, getting to know each other, having adventures, and investing in each other. I would have to say that my favorite adventure was with Anna Donahue and Katie Hillhouse. We somehow got the cockamamie idea to wake up at 4:15 in the morning to go to Garden of the God’s, which is a park with HUGE red rocks/mountains. We got there at about 4:45 and went for a walk (which was supposed to be a run, but it was dark and unfamiliar with strange noises in the bushes.) As we were walking, we were amazed with the beauty of the stars and the look of the garden at night. It is wonderful how easy it is to talk to people about things of substance here. I can’t recall many times when we have been aimlessly talking just to fill the silence. Rather, each conversation we have is about our own struggles, the teachings, or God. That morning was one of those times. We started talking about God, which then proceeded into a prayer walk and a splendid prayer walk at that. We first prayed for safety from the unknown that lurked in the darkness, and after we could feel God walking with us, protecting us. Then we ate breakfast, had a couple laughs and went and hiked up one of the rock/mountains (in the dark) on a path that we created. We found our perfect spot to watch the sun rise and watched the birth of something glorious. We were in a constant state of awe and could not find words to express the magnitude of what we saw and how perfect it was. To think, God created this, how much more glorious is He? We choose a spot on top of a huge red rock and watched as the sun slowly crept above the mountain horizon. The clouds were gently airbrushed over the sky and with each passing moment the scene changed. The clouds moved in different graceful directions and the colors changed from dark violet to blue to red to orange to yellow. We were captivated by the sunrise, but when we started to walk back, we once again were held in awe as we saw the rocks turn from back to red blazing fire. It looks so much different during the day with those rocks of fire standing gloriously high. At night it is a dark shadow looming all around you. It is still something beautiful to me though. Our God is greater than these shadows.
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| courtesy of Anna Donahue |
This week’s topic was about the character and nature of God. It wasn’t exactly anything new that I hadn’t learned before, nevertheless, it was still an amazing week. It is always such a good reminder to remember how good our God is, how faithful he is, how wonderful he is, how he is our God and Father, our Lord who came to serve, and our beloved. Though there was no revelations, this week was amazing. I got to know the relational side of God more than anything, as we each started getting to know each other (by asking the same questions.) We were also somehow able to dig deeper and go beyond the small talk questions, and it didn’t take very long at all for all 44 of us to become family.
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