Far, Far Away

We had a great retreat this past weekend! A team of students from Truett Seminary in Waco, Texas led SEMP: Students Equipped to Minister to their Peers. It was a growth level retreat, for students who are believers and wanting to go deeper in their relationships with the Lord. It was also an equipping time for students to gain confidence in sharing their faith and ministering to their peers.

Far, Far Away was the theme for the weekend, which was a really relevant theme for our students on a few levels.

Our students are living Far, Far Away, because they are Americans living in Germany; they aren't living in their homeland. And even though they're living in Germany, they are living on American military bases, which adds another dynamic. Our students are also living Far, Far Away, because they are believers whose citizenship is in heaven. This earth is just a temporary home; heaven is their eternal home. And like many people experience, sometimes either God feels far away from us, or we feel far away from God.

The Truett team did a good job addressing these aspects of being Far, Far Away. Our students were encouraged and challenged by their large group meetings and small breakout seminars.

I asked one of our freshman gals from the weekend to share about her experience:

"I really liked being able to meet students form other bases who are Christians. It was awesome to not worry about being accepted, because we all had a shared bond in Christ.

The teaching times were good, a few things I learned where... it's not necessary to act a certain way or put on a mask to encourage people to come to Christ - we just need to be honest and be ourselves. I also learned that being a Christian isn't all sunshine, but when we face trials God will be us."