Presbyterians; retreat
Submitted by d on October 17 1999 at 22:17:47
In reply to Boylove in the Bible Submitted by Didaskalos on October 17 1999 at 17:56:50
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PART I >I thought of Boylove and Boychat and I wanted to give them up for Christ. I went up to the altar, and knelt down and prayed. I wanted to open my closed fists to accept whatever God had decided to offer me. I wanted God to touch me, change me, make me feel acceptable again, instead of feeling like there was a filthy childabuser monster inside me, just on account of me being abused as a kid. And I felt nothing.< God sometimes says no. He's said no to me before. Sometimes in silence (very frustrating), more often with a peace like a father wrapping his arms around his son saying, no, son, I can't give you want you want - don't ask why not - trust me {{{father gives son a big hug}}}. Take heart - your thorn in your side may be very frustrating, but it is not in and of itself fatal. I have several medical thorns in my side any one of which might cause me to die early or hurt my quality of life down the road. PART II I was recently on a church retreat. The topic was time. Ecc. 3:1-8 ("To everything there is a season...") and The Paradox of our Time (George Carlin) were two key passages. Didaskalos, seeing as how we are both Presbyterians, I would like to talk to you more about this in private. Note: Until Goplay gives me a way to clear out my inbox without losing important messages, my email has temporarily changed, it's d_fpc@operamail.com. By the way, was this retreat just for your congregation, just Presbyterians, or was it non/multi-denominational? And what were the focus and, if applicable, philosophical slant of the retreat? -David ("d") |