Thrive Highlights
The Men’s Retreat was a couple of weekends ago.
Here are a few of my favorite moments:
I shot two guys with one arrow.
We played archery tag during free time. Archery tag is basically a dodgeball game; but instead of throwing balls, you shoot arrows. Just in case that sounds brutal to you, know that the tip of the arrow has a large pad that looks like a marshmallow.
I heard grown men scream and cry like little girls.
First of all, I'm not saying that little girls are weak in any way – but I have raised three little girls and they do scream and cry a lot. Second, the screaming mostly came as the men were riding down the zip line and splashing into the water, or free falling from the swing that pulls them up 30 feet high before dropping them. And then the crying came as they were moved by the time of worship singing, as they shared some of their burden and heartbreak in small groups, or as the words of the preacher or prophecy resonated in their souls.
I have not heard of any Covid spreading.
With 400 men gathering together for a weekend retreat, I did a lot of praying because of the increased spread of Covid in our city right now. I also brought up a bunch of vitamin C powders and vitamin D gummies. I handed them out like a straight up drug dealer.
Some men were healed and some made first time-commitments to Christ.
It’s always fun to see the men who are new to the men’s retreat. They are so surprised at how fun Christianity can be. They are so surprised at how real and true Christian men can be. And they are so surprised about how powerfully the Spirit of God shows up. By the time they are given an invitation, they are ready to jump in.
The Bible teaches us that when brothers dwell in unity it is good and pleasing to the Lord. In case you haven’t noticed, unity is not super-easy to come by these days. For some reason our society has decided we all need to pick a side and fight the other. All the demonizing of the other and redefining of love playing out in the world today has made unity hard to find. So it was really good to see 400 men of different political opinions, ethnicities, socio-economic groups, and church traditions putting all of their intersectionality under the Lordship of Christ. And as we came together as one body, we found the Holy Spirit joining us and filling us with one hope.
One of my favorite moments of the retreat occurred at the end. We heard some wonderful stories of what God had done for a pastor in Mexico and his son. Then, the emcee invited a pastor from Ecuador to come up and pray for the Mexican pastors in Spanish. As he did, we all bowed before one God and listened as Pastor Mario prayed in Spanish. In the middle of his prayer he became quiet for a moment and, with his Ecuadorian accent, spoke in English saying, “In you, Jesus, we are one.” In that moment, it really felt as if heaven and earth collided and all the divisions in the room — even represented by languages — melted away before the oneness of the triunity found in the Godhead. In that moment, all of our differences seemed petty in comparison to the unity of the Spirit that was present.
Lord Jesus, let the unity of Your Spirit increase at Living Streams Church!
David