Finishing the retreat story, at long last

I really need to stop stating my intentions regarding when particular postings will occur. I thought, since I was in a lull in terms of how regularly I was posting, that such statements would motivate me. This, however, has not turned out to be the case, and has only served to make me look perhaps even more negligent. So, from now on, no more promises. You'll get what you get, when you get it, and you'll LIKE IT! :-)

So, anyhow, here's the last entry in my retreat saga, which will wrap up my storytelling of the event, only 4 weeks after it occured!

One of the things that kind of stinks about these weekend retreats for us CrossWalk folk is that, unlike "normal" church folk who go to church on Sunday morning, we can't necessarily just come home and relax for a Sunday evening after one of these things. And you invariably need some time to come down off of these things. We, however, still had to do church on Sunday evening, and being that we are the leadership, all of us bailing wasn't an option. When we left things, the member of our team who was going to be leading that night had told us his plan was just going to be to have us all share about the experience we had just had. I liked that idea, but encouraged him to make sure we led that in a fashion that made it a two way conversation.

He had actually left on Saturday night, and by the time I arrived at CrossWalk on Sunday evening, about 30 minutes before the service, that plan had changed, and he felt that we needed to do the last listening exercise we had done at the retreat with everyone - and that I needed to lead it. I was a bit taken aback, but also excited, because I had kind of been thinking the same thing. So, I collected myself and later in the service, that was just what we did.

As folks were sharing what they had heard, my friend, the one who had started the whole story of the week by driving me batty the Sunday before, got up and shared that God had brought to his mind the parable of the talents. I neglected to mention that I got pretty emotional while sharing about this friend during the retreat, and I got all teared up again, because I even more completely understood what God had been saying to me in that time. In the human arena, he would definitely be classified as a 1 talent guy. But in the story, that man with just the one talent buried it and didn't do anything with it. God was showing me that part of what He was calling me to do with MY talents was to help my friend use his one talent for everything it was worth, and that that was an incredibly great thing. What a wild set of bookends for the whole week.

That evening also crystalized for me what was ultimately the biggest lesson of the week for me. I had heard it said a couple times throughout the weekend, and again that evening, what a great job I had done leading the weekend. I received that, but at the same time, it was so clear to me that it wasn't about me at all. I was nervous, I was stumbling at times, I left some things out, etc. All that I had done was listen to God, and been obediant to what I believed He was calling me to do - He had taken care of all the rest. And so, as I spoke to close the service, I shared that, and also just encouraged everyone to really begin listening to God themselves, and doing they heard. The big lesson for me, that God really drove home, is that He doesn't move because of great speakers, although He uses great speakers. He doesn't move because of gifted leaders, though He uses gifted leaders when He moves. God moves when ordinary people like me, and like you, and like anyone else, listen to His voice, and do what He says. It's that simple.

Of course, the word I used there is simple, meaning uncomplicated, and not easy, meaning, well, easy :-)

So, that brings me to the end of this particular story. I appreciate those who have followed along with me while I processed this even for myself, and that its made sense through all the twists and turns.