NGAGE Retreat!

So, this last weekend was spent with the a-mazing group NGAGE. NGAGE is the "young adult" group for our church and it's a great group full of people my age that love the Lord and are not afraid to show it. I can't put into words how inspiring it was to be around so many people that are so wanting to be with God. That and to add that the food was great. Not to mention the tubing was quite epic in my opinion

The theme of the weekend was "The Basin and the Towel" which was aimed at finding out our spiritual gifts and using them to serve others. We spent most of the weekend taking a couple "spiritual gift inventory" tests and I scored high on Administraion and Mercy on both tests. I was a bit shocked with scoring so high on Mercy till I realized what it "meant". According to one of the tests (the longer one) Mercy was "having a heart felt joy for comforting Christians during times of need". I then realized that Mercy wasn't really such a shock!

A lot of thanks go out to the people that helped plan the whole thing but a lot of thanks goes out to the guys I shared with. David Cress, the man has a heart to serve like you wouldn't believe and it's pretty evident. Josh Odred, I got to know him more and see he has a great heart for people and has such a great testimony. Ben Dye, may have just met him this weekend but to see his spark and love for everything is great.

I wish I had more pictures but I doubt we'd be able to fully capture how much God moved in just a short weekend. To be able to be so open and unashamed of our faith and to let others in was so great for me and I needed this weekend. It was a therapy that only being with other believers can give

Well, the tubing was a lot of fun. Hopefully we got some good shots since a lot of the wipeouts and bails from this weekend were hilarious and warranting of some "Top 10 Play Footage". I mean, where else can you find 3 pretty well sized guys holding on for dear life on a tube designed for 3 smaller people?!

Song of the Day: "The basin and the towel"-Michael Card

Ah, sweet sweet river

Conway, SC. A place that many do not go to since it's not "the beach". But to me, it's a safe haven that I love to seek refuge in. I may not live out in the way crazy parts of South Carolina but nothing is better than going to my Grandma's house and enjoying some peace and quiet on the river. Nothing is more calming than just sitting on the dock with your feet dangling and watching the river just roll on. It's almost too good to be true some times.

I got to live out my first ever "solo road trip." This means, I got to drive all by myself to Conway and got to come back on my own plans!

Ok, it was slightly planned how I came home since I had Lauren with me but that's a different story. I got to spend time with my Grandma that I had not been able to in times past. Also, got to see the new Star Trek movie which I was dying to see! I had no clue Grandma was a Trekkie. Surprise! But it was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun. No sunburns but did get a nice henna tattoo and it's pretty good

PS: My sister and I are getting matching tattoos this summer, and it was just "ok'd" today by my parents at lunch. I guess she just told them, "hey, Matt and I are getting matching tats!" And that's it probably

Song of the day: "Black River"-Amos Lee