“Trick or Retreat”

This past weekend our campus ministry took a trip down to North Carolina for our annual Fall Retreat with over 15 different colleges and universities from North Carolina. We had a great time! However, it was very sobering to get back to DC, because everyone was hit with the reality that they were getting back to the grind of campus life.

There are so many benefits to taking time away from our busy lives to get perspective on things. Our surrounding circumstances can be so loud and overpowering, it can sometimes drown out what’s most important in our lives. Maybe that’s why most retreats that people go on are in secluded settings, where it’s quiet and disconnected from the noise of our lives.

Even Jesus would go on mini retreats. His life was so hectic, that He would sometimes wake up extra early to spend time with God. It’s not that God only speaks in the morning, or that His voice is louder in the morning, but that everything else is quieter. Every time we take students on a retreat or to a conference away from campus, students seem to have genuine encounters with God, and seem to be changed in ways they never thought. I think it’s because it’s quiet enough for them to hear God speaking to them.

Although that’s huge, I always try to encourage the students with the fact that God can speak in their life on campus in the same exact way as a a retreat. The trick is, they have to learn how to retreat every day. Trick or Retreat!