Retreat—part one

Our entire field (peeps from Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosova) met in Slovenia for a retreat. We drove to Macedonia to pick up another lass, and then drove through Serbia and Croatia. The place where we went in Slovenia was right over the border, so the 4 singletons from K and M went on a little woodsy romp for a couple of hours in Zagrab, Croatia. It was fantastic to see more of a Pennsylvania-style fall (most of the trees in Gjilan have teensy leaves). It was so relaxing and gorgeous, and a perfect way to start a retreat-esque weekend. We also had a picnic in a park (a park! Haven’t seen one of those in a while:) and sipped hot chocolate pudding (pictured) in a Frank Sinatra-lovin’ coffee shop. Then we chased the sunset for a little bit into Slovenia (pictured).

Some takeaway points from the retreat (speaker: Guy “cool-name” Pfanz; organizer: Mark “genius-at-planning-low-key-retreats” Brinkman):
1/ When my focus is centered on clarity, that is what becomes my god. As “clarity” is one of the main things I asked my prayer peeps to focus on…hmm. Although I’m not sure what the difference is between direction, understanding, and clarity, I do see how my search for clarity has been distracting…

2/ God wants it more than me. Pr. Pfanz said this a bunch during the first meeting. The first several times, I nodded my head with a syrupy smile and thought “I know this already.” Yet the more he said it and the more verses he talked about, the more I realized that this has not been my understanding of God lately. I’ve been approaching him like I need to convince him to do something that he doesn’t really want to do (like provide food for people, grant understanding and faith to people who don’t yet know him, reveal himself in a special way to those who do, etc.). Maybe it’s because of how slow some things move here and I’m getting impatient. Maybe it’s because it seems that God has kept his “emotional distance” from me this past year and I’ve sort of been feeling like I’m running ahead, behind, or off to the side. Whatever it is/was, taking a couple hours by myself and thinking about this was pretty helpful--to pray to a loving God who is good, just, wise, compassionate, gracious, and love (and on his own timetable)--this is the God I have access to through prayer! (it's odd what i forget sometimes...).