Brianna's Thoughts from Day 1

So I had definitely looked forward to this retreat for weeks. But I must admit, being one of the newest members of Lightswitch, I was also slightly apprehensive and unsure of what to expect from the weekend! Friday afternoon, everyone gathered at the church and proceeded to tackle the first challenge of the weekend: packing up the vans. I and six other girls managed to fit all of our luggage into the Bucca-mobile. Curt and Juan called our incredibly-crammed trunk "Ridiculous." I considered it extremely impressive! The trip to our surprise destination was long, but so much fun. The roads wound through the most gorgeous countryside, and jammin’ out to Sting, Josh Groban, Dino, and Holly’s progressive 70’s rock music also helped prevent any possible boredom!

Curt chose a gorgeous site for our retreat: Summit Lake Camp. As soon as we arrived, the whole group spread out to snap pictures and explore, undeterred by the persistent rain. Everything on the grounds was photogenic: hills, forests, the mountain view...everything screamed out God’s creative power! I could not help but marvel at the world’s stubborn denial of His work in creation, when everything around us only reinforced that creativity! The girls from my cabin discovered a huge empty field and some beautiful hills behind our cabin, and proceeded to run to the top and then race back down screaming, “Charrrrrrrrrrge!” Must have been something in the air…

After dinner, we met in our own on-site “conference room” to worship. Ben led us in singing some powerful songs that pointed us to Christ and helped to prepare our hearts for God's Word. In my opinion, the absence of lyrics projected on a screen added something to this time. It may seem trivial, but singing praises to God from memory was new to me, and I felt like I was able to praise God more freely. I purely enjoyed this experience!

Curt then shared about the often-forgotten truth that heaven is the believer’s final destination, and that this truth should affect our day-to-day lives. He made the profound statement that “Sanctification not focused on destination will lead to condemnation.” We were all reminded of God’s awesome mercy in saving us, not just for this life, but for an eternity in His presence. I was grateful to Curt for focusing our attention on heaven. I know that I often shove many simple truths, such as the believer's assurance of heaven, aside, or at least push them into the background. Yet God was faithful to bring that truth to the forefront this weekend.


After the session, about forty of us engaged in an epic round of mafia. A total blood-bath ensued which lasted well past midnight, and resulted in many ten’s of victims. Who knew about Allison and Lauren’s brutal sibling rivalry, the hidden resentment toward blonds and minorities (*cough*Juan*cough*), or Ken’s secret suspicion of his wife! Unfortunately for Ken, his suspicion of innocent Laura was proven wrong, and after she was wrongly accused and killed we proved whose side we were on by killing him. Accusations flew, the room-temperature rose significantly...and I laughed hysterically! We stumbled (literally) into our cabins around 2 a.m. and managed to catch a few hours of sleep before breakfast.

By this time, most of my nervousness had disappeared, and I fell asleep excitedly anticipating the next day. To be continued in a future post.