Beautiful Something

 5 hours in a car (I won't tell you the stories, like the time where a box flew from the truck in front of me and was stuck under my hood for 15 minutes, or the time that I had to stop and ask directions and learned that it was ok to do that). Shoot. There I go, rambling my mouth again.  Someone should really stop me. 400 campers. 16+ hours of work, 6 days in a row.

We were carpooling, and keeping track of our group. 

 We made it to the Mackinac Bridge!!! The bridge that connects the lower peninsula of Michigan to the upper. The bridge that is 5 miles long! The bridge that gives me the hebbie geebies every time I drive over it.

 Everyone has to stop and get their picture taken in front of the bridge, right? Pinky swear promise, cross my heart, the Mackinac Bridge is in the background. The fog is hiding it!

Aint she beautiful? Or at least something to get your heart racing. Be still heart, it's JUST a photo.

 We have arrived!!!! It is time to begin Chapter Focus Week, one of InterVarsity's best training opportunities for college students. Students are taken away from the stress of campus life, and are whisked away to beautiful Cedar Campus, where they receive training on how to be a Jesus follower on campus.

 But first.....the Retreat of Silence. For an introvert like myself, this is one of the grandest things you can do, and for an extrovert this can be extremely terrifying. Basically, we send you into nature (or to a place where you can look at nature through a window), to be by yourself and with God for 3-4 hours. You take a sake lunch, and begin to process what your last year has been like, where you are growing in your faith, where you are struggling, where you have seen God, etc. We offer students a guide to help them through this time. Many have never done this, and it is very intimidating, but once you get started, it's hard to not have it be a regular part of your life.

A student during the Retreat of Silence

Don't be too jealous. It was beautiful, but it was also cold. Part of my retreat of silence was spent in that chair. The rest of it was spent inside, looking through a window, at this view.

Everyday students had to do work around the camp. My students had the privilege of washing kayaks:)

 We had lots of group bonding.

 We gathered each night, we worshipped, listen to the Word being exposed, prayed for collegiate movements throughout the world and had chapter time. Chatper Time=spending time with your college, praying and planning for next year.

There is a beautiful trail, that the students love to hike on. (notice= students, and not myself). It leads out to huge boulders on Lake Huron. It really is beautiful. Can you guess the name?

Narnia!

Cara, I think that boulder is bigger than you are!

During the day, students were to pick "tracks," similar to seminars, but with interactive learning. There were tracks that included those who wanted to know more about what it would look like to follow Jesus, some on evangelism, on the authenticity of scripture, what the Christian response is to social justice, leadership, inductive Bible Study of Mark and so on. Every year, I LOVE to staff Small Group Leaders Training. I love to help students learn what it means to lead a small group on campus. It is a life long skill to have and it is SO MUCH MORE THAN BEING A BIBLE STUDY LEADER.

We take through students the components of a small group, the phases a small group goes through, how to prepare a Bible Study, etc. I am so excited to see that there will be 40ish new, trained, ready excited small groups on our college campuses next year. (note: trained students from Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania.) 

The group of future small group leaders!!

Are you coming next year?