Weekend of Change – Part 2

           After last years experience at the FCA College Advance, it wasn’t a question whether or not I was going to go back and do it again.  I knew last year God had done something in my life as a student athlete and this time going back , after being a senior, I knew something else was in store.

I was almost a little disappointed the first day of the retreat. We got there and had our first night session, which was a great talk, but the whole second day was about doing sports Gods way. I was kind of made thinking, “I’m not an athlete anymore, why does this pertain to me?”  God also has a sense of humor and was about to show me why He had brought me there.

After a long day of sports and making new friends, it was time for the night session. The speaker, Scott Crenshaw was back from last year. He is the perfect mix between funny and serious – great for college kids. The chapel on Saturday night started off by him preaching on forgiveness. He had us all think of someone that came to mind that we need to forgive, whether it be a friend, family member or random stranger. This is always the part of the night that changes lives.

What we don’t realize is that we are on this earth because of forgiveness. When someone crosses us or hurts us, it’s hard to take that step back and do what was done for us. It’s a powerful message and I know it didn’t just hit home for me.

That night, we got to experience over 40 people stand up and take the love of Christ for the first time. We also got to experience forgiveness even in the tiniest forms. I know I don’t need to get all Jesus on anyone but at that moment, I knew why I was there for the weekend. Just because I wasn’t an athlete anymore, that didn’t mean that I didn’t need to hear any of that message, because I did.

Overall, I realized the true power of Christ and the healing power that His love has. Scott preached about a lot of different things that were relevant to life: stepping out of our comfort zones, not just pursuing a relationship but an intimacy with our God, and to appreciate who our real friends are. Not only was I convicted with some of these messages, I was awakened by the songs, the people around me and His word.

Buffs up! Our FCA group!