Yesterday was a nostalgic kind of day for me. 15 years ago yesterday we hosted our very first gathering and called it a retreat. It was the most unimpressive, duct taped together event you’ve ever seen, in the basement of Joplin, MO city hall. Looking back it’s almost embarrassing … But it was the beginning.
I spent yesterday going through photos of every retreat since then. For the first time, I made a list and numbered them. Would you believe we’ve hosted exactly 100 retreats? Some of those retreats have been the best days of my life … and some of those early retreats you couldn’t pay me to go back and do again.
What a ride it has been and what a story we now have to tell. It’s not always a story I would have chosen, but it’s a story God has orchestrated to build what we get to do today. Just this year at our retreats, we’ve baptized 39 precious souls in total commitments to Jesus … all while having an absurd amount of fun in the most beautiful places in the world.
When God’s word says in Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” – well it’s absolutely true. God can do so much more than we could ever dream up on our own. It’s bigger than you imagined and greater than you think, but you have to partner with him in the story and decide to trust him enough to join him on the ride.
All glory goes to God, only he can do it – but how totally awesome that he invites us to be part of the story!
God gives us a story to tell. A story of how he saved our life, turned it all around, and made the impossible happen on the daily. He’s writing a story with your life and it’s all unfolding day by day.
Think about the things that make for a great story. It’s never the comfortable, easy, guaranteed stuff. It’s the ups and downs, the twists and turns, the suspense and climax that make for a great story. And our God is the greatest writer of all. I wonder what he’s writing for you?
A few years ago on my husband’s birthday, I surprised him with a ride in a WW2 bi-plane. I requested the “loop-d-loop tricks ride” over the coast for the full experience. He went on the first ride and returned so dizzy he could barely walk. Then it was my turn.
I’ve never experienced anything so thrilling. It made sky diving seem like a total bore. It’s an open cockpit with 2 tiny seats and you truly feel like you’re flying. At one point we’re high up in the sky and suddenly it gets very quiet. The engine goes dead. Like motor OFF. Y’all we’re flying in an 80 year old airplane controlled by 2 foot pedals and one hand lever and the engine cuts. Boom, we go into a spinning nose dive. It’s like the wildest roller coaster ride you’ve ever been on … without a track. Then the engine starts trying to crank. It puts a time or two, then fires up and suddenly we make a 180 and start climbing straight up.
My son was in town so it was the ultimate experience to share with him and his wife. After we’re all on the ground safely, my husband strikes up a conversation with the pilot. He says “wow, so how long have you had this airplane.” The pilot smiles and says, “One week! How in the world did you all find me?” I said, “Well I saw you flying over the beach a few days ago and I wondered if maybe you offered rides so I googled you.” He said, “Well, you saw me on my first flight.”
I swallow … hard.
Y’all if I would have known this was a new experience for the pilot, I wouldn’t have strapped myself into that plane and squealed with delight as he let it fall in a nose dive from the sky. Nor would I have encourage 3 other members of my fam...