This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend “Summit” – Campus for Christ’s fall retreat.  The one I went to was for McMaster, Guelph, Brock, Laurier and Waterloo.  I didn’t really know what to expect, other than that there’d probably be a speaker, workshops, singing/praise time, and a lot of people.  Unfortunately, I caught a bad cold on Wednesday and that threw me off a bit during the weekend.  (While I was singing I had all this phlegm in my throat and it wouldn’t go down even when I swallowed. *sigh*)

I really enjoyed the talks from the main speaker, Paul Meyers (sp?) was from Atlanta, Georgia…During the 3 talks he gave, he looked at what it means to 1) be a saint, 2) be a slave, 3) be a soldier.  What really spoke out to me from the 2nd sermon was the part about the parable of the talents.  Although we are slaves to Christ, we are also very very blessed.  I guess this may seem very evident to you but I was reminded of how to “bury your talent” is to invest in earthly things; it’s to invest in things that have no bearing on eternity.  I think in my everyday life, I spend a lot of time investing in school, in marks, in facebook…I know this is where I’m called to be right now, but I guess I still struggle with how I can make God the center of it all.  Anyways, Paul always made me reflect on what “group” North Americans fall into – the 5, 4, 2, or 1 talent group?  God has definitely entrusted us with SO much…As university students, we are part of the 1 or 2% of the whole world that gets to have post-secondary education.   And so, we can’t let our lives go to “waste” by investing in worthless things!

3 things worth investing in:

-God
-His word
-the souls of men and women

Lately I’ve been struggling with surrendering my future to God.  It’s becoming more of a reality that the future is coming, whether I like it or not, and soon I’ll be graduating (hopefully).  As I look around me, everyone seems to know what they’re doing – I feel like I have an idea but I don’t know if I can get there.  The fact is, if I don’t get into OT, I don’t know what I’ll do.  I feel an enormous pressure to join things, to do part-time research, to do better in school.  I guess in all, I’ve been relying on my intellect and strength and not on God.  Yesterday I was walking home from discipleship group and I looked up at the sky.  Although it was dark and cloudy, it was the same big sky.  I thought..”God is so much bigger than my midterm, my marks.  Why should I fear this midterm?”  It was calming to be reminded of that…

At Summit, we sang songs with really bold lyrics…I‘m gonna be a history maker in this land…I’m gonna be a speaker of truth to all man-kind...You are the way, the truth and the life, we live by faith and not by sight for You, we’re living ALL for You…Jesus I believe in You, and I would go to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth for You… To be honest, I really was reluctant to sing those songs.  Am I really willing to go to the ends of the earth?  Am I really living by faith?  Am I gonna speak truth to people?   I need to trust in his promises, that he will never leave me or forsake me, that his power is made perfect in my weaknesses…the joy of the Lord is strength.

So yeah..we sing “yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord…” : )