Young Life retreat & LARP'ing

From 12pm on Saturday to 12pm today, I was at a Young Life retreat. Let me tell you, it was amazingly refreshing and motivating. We do so much good when we get together, we really set the ball in motion to impact kids to the best of our abilities. Through Christ of course. See the guy all the way to the right, in the blue and white striped shirt? That is Christ Bishop, and he was one of the most motivating individuals this weekend, if not month for me. Christ is a salesmen, and lives in the rich part of the city in a super nice house. Bishop has made a $50 Million dollar deal for his work before, and can bring in mad cash. He has been involved with Young Life for the past 3 years, and God has really been pulling on his heart to go at it full time. He made the announcement this weekend that he was going to be quitting his job and doing Young Life full time!! It was amazing to hear him speak about it, it was amazing to see how faithful he is being. Taking a complete leap in faith, trusting only that God is good and he gives us what we need. We talked about Acts 20:22-24 When Paul says, "I consider my life worth nothing. . . " that hits me pretty close to home. Mostly because it is so easy for the world to consume me. I mean, Bishop has displayed so clearly that he does not care about the world. He cares only that the Kingdom of the Lord is advanced in beautiful and amazing ways. That is really awesome to see. What am I willing to do for the Kingdom?? That is the question I kept asking myself.

So today, Sunday I tried something new. I suppose it was for the Kingdom. I went Larping. LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. And I was introduced to this on Wednesday when I went to Snider High School. One of my Young Life guys got really involved with this, and LOVES IT!! He so badly wanted me to come out and check it out. Well, I wanted to go further than that. So, instead of studying Spanish, I did this at a local park. . . Just check out the pictures.

First I got my training. The guy training me is known only by his LARP name, which is Fiery!!

Then I headed into BATTLE. It was intense.

Will you just take a look at the friggin gladiator!?

The guy with the long hair was really good, he had

like a 12 pack of abs too. Intimidating stuff.

I had a lot of fun, you can see Jessee (the reason I came)

standing behind me.

Some of my old friends (from a past life) were playing a disc golf at the park, something I used to do all the time. Well, they saw me and some of my other friends taking pictures so they stopped by and chilled for a bit. It was all really unique, and I actually enjoyed myself. I didn't suck, lets just say that much. Anything to advance the kingdom, even if I look silly doing it. Everyone needs a little encouragement.

Me and another leader had our first Campaigners/Bible study with some guys tonight. It went really well, and they were extremely receptive. I loved being in it, and advancing the knowledge and kingdom of Christ, even if it is in the smallest way. It's all about taking baby steps. It was a good weekend.

(LATE ADDITION)
There is something difficult looming in the air though. Something lingering that causes a breeze of unsettled action. It is a familiar breeze, but still blows through any outer garment that I may be wearing for protection from the elements. A prayer gives the discomfort a bit of hope, but ultimately I have no control over where the wind blows. I can only hope that I agree with where it settles.