Fall Retreat Pictures

Hey all. Fall Retreat pictures are up on Flickr now. All 200 of them. Feel free to peruse at your leisure. (Just click the pic)

The Fall Retreat

The Summers HF - Goofy, originally uploaded by | Orthogonal Photography |.

This past weekend was the Illini Life Christian Fellowship Fall Retreat. Tammi Smith, the speaker for the retreat, was a fantastic educator and was really able to bear her heart for us all in a way that affected many people. We had a really cool group of new people come with us on the retreat as well. This picture is of the all of us posing at the end for a goofy group pic. This group has really become quite the family for me (outside of my real family) and I can't wait to see how God blesses this group.

The retreat topic was "Now and Forever" and it focused on the wounds in our past and the lies they make us believe now as well as the habits we have now and how they will affect our future actions. Now, there was a lot more depth to the weekend, and hopefully I can get some more thoughts after I look at the notes some more.

Alan and Ryan's Day

Something I miss

3 years ago at this time, I was finishing my freshman year of college and preparing to head to Estes Park, CO for Colorado LT 2005. Oh man, was that a good summer. I've been flipping through pictures online and on my hard drive from that time, and it has been phenomenal. That summer was so instrumental in my life being the way it is right now. There are people in these pictures that are great friends now that I barely talked to while at LT or before LT. There are people that I've drifted away from but have not forgotten. There a bunch of people who are married or plan on getting married, and there are people who have moved to my school. There are people going back to LT, there are people working abroad, and dealing with the struggles of adulthood. I wish I could post more, but I should probably save you that trouble.

I guess this is really to jog the memory of those of you who went with me on that epic summer. I can honestly look back and say it was one of the greatest times of my life so far. This summer I will be somewhere completely different and my expectations are sadly pretty low. However, when I look at what LT05 was for me, in so much as I barely knew anybody and now I have fantastic friends, I have hope.

So, what is your favorite LT 05 memory?

Spiritual Adultery

The book of Hosea, which we discussed in Home Fellowship this week, calls Israel an adulterer to God. This imagery is used to say that Israel as a whole, and the individuals within it, at the time of Hosea, were for all practical purposes, whoring themselves out while still married to YHWH.

This imagery and thought process are still very applicable today, as we live in a society as believers in Jesus Christ who easily focus on anything but him. This love for and putting hope in so many other things is spiritual adultery. This seems like really strong language and imagery. Rarely have I done something that I would see on the same level as adultery.

However, I think that highlights one of the biggest struggles we Christians face. That struggle is really believing and understanding that our relationship with God is just that...a relationship. My buddy Matt brought forth that simple idea to my head, and I've been mulling over it, and the context of Hosea really brings it out more to me.

I think the top reason that we don't see our sin as spiritual adultery is because we don't see our interactions with God as a relationship. Instead, it can feel like God is Mr. Distant Rule Maker. But he has come to interact with us and love us. So when we cheat on him with our sinful nature, it is adultery, and it must hurt Him.

So let us believe in the power of our sin and how much damage it can cause, but let us truly live in and believe that God is in relationship with us. Perhaps this will help us to grasp the weight of our sin.

Practical Atheism

I am a practical atheist. I live my life as if God didn't actually exist. Doesn't that sound pretty bad? Why would I claim that God existed, write about it, read about it, speak up for it, but not live like it? Seems pretty silly...

This past week at SNG, Todd Daly from Urbana Theological Seminary came and gave us a sermon that truly met me in a fantastic place. He spoke on the topic of, "Does God Exist?" (I'll post a link when it gets put up on the website) which of course is super easy... Yea, anyway, he brought up specifically the idea of practical atheism. This concept sits in the realm of believers of the message of Jesus of Nazareth not living like his message is real or affecting their lives. Now, I think I can see myself 'living' like it matters. I lead a small group, I go to church, am involved with a Home Fellowship, and heck, I even read my Bible sometimes. But what does that matter? What about all the times my speech is unseasoned with Grace, or when I gossip, or belittle people? What about the times I ignore those in need because I've got such a busy agenda that includes going to play video games at home? Where are the times I need to rely on God?

Now this might seem kind of awkward, because I think it is. What is the critical mass that my life looks like one that trusts God, and anywhere below that, I look like it doesn't matter to me?
That quantification doesn't seem important. What does matter is how I live. It means living set apart. Unfortunately, there are so many walks of life and cultures that it is difficult to say what exactly that means. Is it evil for us to enjoy the culture of our world? I don't think so. I think it is a gift from God and many times the culture enriches my understanding of Him and His creation. However, there are some parts that we must distance ourselves from.

I also think this means social justice. I've really had that idea in my head for a long time, and I wish I could know how better to act on it. As a student, it seems like my top priority should be my classes so that I can get a job and start to serve when I've graduated. But that doesn't negate that I should be taking time aside and serving I think too many times we make excuses of our own busyness to get out there and love other people. That isn't set apart.

So, when we wake up, what is on our mind? How do we live our day? What follows us to our beds at night?



Micah 6:8 And this is what He requires of you: To do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

New Video - LT Survivor Man

Illini Life Videos:

Hey, I want to get YouTube traffic. Shameless YouTube traffic. OK, so actually, I want to just show you my videos that myself and my friends have made this year for iLife.

Night of Man: Myself and Jeff put this guy together to promote a men's night in the fall.



About You Card: Jonathan and I put this together to explain something new in our church.