Whole Lotta Fun

Now I need to vacuum my car.

LSU XA leadership retreat rocked!! After a quick birthday celebration, putting a couple checks in the bank, then picking up Crystal Legendre and John "the Recka" Barreca, we were on our way to Norwood, Louisiana. In the middle of nowhere, great outdoor-sy getaway. 3 days of Chi Alpha leadership seeking God, bonding with each other, planning ministry on campus for this year, and having a blast in nature.

Some highlights:

• Belting out Kelly Clarkson songs in the car on the way (and jamming on the breaks in a backwoords highway that suddenly deadended into the middle of another highway).
• Hearing Pastor Nick say things like, "I want this year to be the most spiritual ever...we need to have a restoration of a fear of the LORD...the Holy Spirit empowers us not for ourselves, but empowers us to serve others, the focal point of this year's ministry."
• Meeting with my Lifegroup Bible study co-leaders and excitedly discussing this semester.
• Playing something like football on a lake ...in canoes. Rules are you have to throw the football (a Dasani water bottle) to other canoes, with members from your team, and row to the other "end zone" (the other shore), and dropping it or getting hammered by someone whacking your canoe with their paddle is a turnover. We did this for 2.5 hours. Tollie and I flipped over like 5-6 times, the lake ATE my tee-shirt. (And almost my LSU hat.) After much ramming of canoes, being dumped overboard, Adam Stephenson injuring his leg, tired limbs, lots of yelling, we were tired but happy.
• Saturday night praying for each other in a powerful time of prayer.
• BBQ and campfire, roasting marshmallows, making s'mores, me jumping over the campfire.
• Playing capture the flag, (with a pond in the middle) and Renee and I went "Navy SEAL". We couldn't get the flag, so I swam across the pond, Renee following a minute later. Simultaneously, others on our team ran over there and created a diversion, while I emerged from the water, ran to get the flag, chased by Casey to the pier which I launched myself off of, threw the flag to Renee, as we swam back to our side. (Of course, my heroism didn't last long, as by the third round of capture the flag, I had heat exhaustion and couldn't get the friggin' vomit out. Props to D-Brumley for re-doing the Navy SEAL feat again much more stylishly than I did!)
• Water balloon toss, an exam on leadership topics we'd taken (including having to run across a field to take a written examination, where people plastered us with shaving cream to distract us while taking the test), and having a canoe race.

We've got a great year planned, great leadership, now we just need to seek God fervently, love with Him with all our heart soul mind strength, love people...