Food for Thought

So I just got back from a youth retreat with several of the youth from Highland Avenue and I have a few random thoughts I'd like to share; some things I've been thinking about!

First, it was really cool for me to spend the weekend with Laura, Nate and Carson, three youth from HACoB. It was one of the first times that I've been able to have one on one time with them and it was really great! Great for all of us I think!

On the first night we were asked to come up with a three word biography for ourselves. Here's mine: Relationships, Service, Questioning

So you know how everyone says that it's always better to give rather than receive? Well what happens if you give and give and give and you get nothing in return? I'm all for giving of myself, but if you're always giving it's really quite exhausting. It's just an interesting concept, that I agree with, but at the same time struggle with.

Andy and Terry Murray gave a concert this weekend and their songs always speak to me. I didn't grow up listening to their music, but now that I do, it's a great thing. Some of my favorites are Goodbye Still Night, Brave Man from Ohio, and One Person at a Time. Each of these songs give me hope while also helping to ask the tough questions of what I think and believe.

Goodbye Still Night:
"Power to live. Courage to fly. Goodbye still night. We're watching the sun come up from the mountain. Standing stright up to life. Lookin it in the eye. Stretchin our arms out. Shakin hands with the sky. Filling up our cup at the crystal fountain."

Brave Man from Ohio:
"Of how he dreamed of a peaceful world, where life would be sweet and good. Oh, I'm not afraid to be here friends, I'm not afraid to die. I just can't shake this feeling inside we can live together if we try. Give me a shovel instead of a gun, lend me a hand for now. And if we die we'll die makin somethin' instead of tearin somethin down."

One Person at a Time:
"Oh the world's so big and I'm so small. It hardly seems I matter at all. Sometimes I think I'd like to do something to help out with all the problems of the world but whenever I sit down and think it through I always wonder what can one person do? "

One final thing. I think about the idea of memories all the time. Sometimes, I want to be able to write everything down and record it so that it is preserved forever. Then other times I realize that our mind works in such a way that it already is preserved. I love the fact that I'll be talking to someone, or listening to them, and through that conversation a memory will come to the front of my mind which then leads to many other memories. For example, on Friday as we were driving to Peoria to the youth retreat Laura was trying so hard to remember a camp song. Once she did I realized that I knew it and we started to sing it together. As a result of that, I began to think back to my summer at Camp Swatara where I had learned that song. And then I began to think about the people I worked with and the awesome summer that I had. A specific memory came to mind, one where all of the summer staff was walking to family camp for church one Sunday morning at the beginning of the summer and we sang this song. The only thing was at that time I didn't even know the song really well to be able to join in. But I was able to enjoy the rest of the group singing. I really enjoy it when I think of things I hadn't thought of in awhile (especially when it's a good thing!). It's fun to take a walk down memory lane as they say.