By a middle school girl
I was 11, and at this point the longest time I had ever been away from my home and my family was 24 hours. When the Spring Hill retreat came around, it wasn’t hard for me to say no, until a friend of mine from Bible class convinced me to go.
“God can change the world through just one person.”
The days to the retreat were slowly counting down. I wasn’t sure what I was afraid of; perhaps it was just being away from home that was scaring me. When the day finally came, I was sick to my stomach. When we arrived at camp, everybody was hyped up from being in the van for so long. We got settled in our caboose (our cabin for the weekend) and then went to the tubing hill. My friend and I raced to grab our tubes and dashed up the hill. We thought it would be most fun to race down the hill before checking out the rest of camp. The guy at the top of the hill gave us both a massive spin, and we were off! About half an hour later we had to head in for a group session. I lost every thought of home and was having a blast. The speaker for the weekend, Brooklyn Lindsey, was especially great. Later we broke into our small groups to talk and pray about what we had heard. We stayed up late talking, and I felt we really bonded as a small group.
During the next day, we had broomball tournaments and other activities. It was awesome! Later that morning, there was another group session. Once again, Brooklyn was great and really asked us to consider what we were doing in ministry. On the last day, we spent all our time at the climbing zone. Here they had a large ladder where the rungs started out a few feet apart, but as the ladder climbed higher the rungs grew farther apart. It was hard, especially because I’m not tall. When I couldn’t climb any more my partner pulled me up. When I had caught my breath I climbed up to the next rung. Now my partner was tired and I had to lift her up. It surprised me how such a simple activity could have such a great purpose. It made me think of the verse “as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” Proverbs 27:17. When I was tired and ready to give up, my sister in Christ lifted me up, and I, likewise, lifted her.
Later that night was the final session, continuing the previous talks on how one person can change everything. Brooklyn talked about her time in Africa. At night they had to be completely covered in mosquito netting. Even though there really weren’t that many mosquitoes, the diseases carried by just one mosquito could kill you. Likewise God can change the world through just one person. I am very grateful to my friend who convinced me to go to SpringHill. It was a life changing weekend and a choice I wouldn’t have made on my own.
If you’re interested in going on our 2014 SpringHill Winter Retreat head to springhillstluke.eventbrite.com for more details and to register. Registration closes on Sunday, November 3.
