Brianna's Thoughts From Day Two

We awoke Saturday morning to the dramatic news flash: bed bugs! The boys’ cabins were infested. Displaced from their bunks, the guys had apparently retreated to random couches, cars, and…trees. Word of the invasion quickly spread to the girls' side of the camp, and the next few minutes sounded a like this: "Eewww...oh yuck!" "Now I'm worried about every itch I feel...is that a bed bug?" "Quick, search your luggage!" Oh well, I guess it added to the total “camp experience!”

Most of us slept-walked through breakfast and stumbled into the conference room for our morning session with Curt. We listened to two testimonies, one from Mike Perry and one from Shamane Gardner, that powerfully demonstrated how confidence in an eternity with God provides unfathomable peace strength to persevere through trials. I am thankful that Curt asked them to share; oftentimes, I fail to realize the full implications of a truth until I see how they play out in the lives of other people.

We then proceeded to the "confidence course," a rope obstacle course that tested our teamwork skills. We broke into two groups, and each group had to progress through five different stations. My favorite station was the ropes course where the entire team had to work their way along a rope to the finish line. At first it seemed fairly simple with us acting as tight-rope walkers holding onto a rope that tangled overhead. The difficulty gradually increased however, as handholds grew further and further apart until we could only hang desperately onto one another!

As I half-walked, half-stumbled along the rope, my arms swinging wildly in circles and grabbing for the nearest person, I realized as never before that I am not a gymnast! In the words of Curt, “People showed off moves they never knew they had!” We also had to carefully slide each other through the rope "spider web," fling each other over a wall, and balance the entire group on a giant wooden “teeter-totter.” Team bonding took on a whole new meaning, especially when it came to awkwardly squeezing twenty, sweaty people onto a 3'x3' platform (I don't think any of us thought we'd ever see Jeremy and Jacob hold each other so tightly!). It was so much fun taking on the course together and having to rely on each other to finish intact!

We had a few hours of free time after lunch, during which some of us jumped into the paddle boats and engaged in an intense game of basketball-water-polo in addition to a race across the pond. Another group struck up a spontaneous jam session, while the smart ones snored away in their cabins.

Our final group session successfully summed up the weekend’s focus on heaven. I was especially challenged by Curt’s point that my reason for honoring God must not stop at “my sins are forgiven.” I must add to that viewpoint the reality and the motivation of heaven, because knowing my ultimate endpoint will drive me to persevere through any circumstance. No matter how I interpret Revelation’s account of the “end times,” the outcome is 100% certain, an eternity with God!

After the session, we packed, ate dinner, and drove out. I don’t know about anyone else, but I went into complete zombie-mode on the way home! Despite the exhaustion, I was grateful for the time I was able to spend with Lightswitch that weekend! The retreat was a definite all-around success. For me, one of the retreat’s biggest blessings was the strong sense of unity. We spent time together, not as individuals or as cliques. We gelled as a group of brothers and sisters, worshipping God, gleaning from His Word and from each other, and just having a blast! I was reminded that we are not in this battle alone. As we seek to sift through and apply the truths of heaven to our daily lives, God has blessed us with a support system within Lightswitch. I felt for the first time as a new member of the group, that “What we do, we do together!”