Spiritual Retreat Day

At CCV we are given 1 day a quarter to take as a Spiritual Retreat Day (SRD). I took my most recent day last Friday. Here is a report of that day. I think all of us need to set aside extended periods of time to spend w/ our Creator where we remove the usual pace and places from our day so we can connect with Him.

I decided to also practice the discipline of Fasting during this SRD. That made the day a little more focused for me personally.
I started the day at Next coffee reading and reflecting. (My fast was from food, not coffee-FYI). My T-group is reading Romans so I started there and read chapters 1-10 and spent some time journaling what I felt like God had for me in those chapters. It was good to take the time to read them slowly instead of my usual cruise control speed to get it done each week.
I then spent some time reading through the SRD notebook from the staff retreat last summer. It was a good reminder of the purpose of the SRD as well as some ideas for things to do. Next I went through the ACTS prayer model. I also spent some time meditating on the 1st part of Psalm 119.

I ended the morning by reading a chapter in David Timm’s book, Living the Lord’s Prayer. The 6th chapter focuses on the phrase, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and it hit me right between the eyes so I read it twice. Some of the key insights I took away were:
“our occasional prayer is “your will be done” but our common desire is “my will be done”.
“clarity has become idolatry”—this was huge as he used Abraham’s example from Genesis, and our desire for clarity from God in regards to the future. Our desire for clarity keeps us from living completely in this moment and to appreciate what God is doing now. He said, “in our hunger for a hint of what lies ahead we find ourselves walking by sight (clarity) and not by faith (trust).”
http://www.amazon.com/Living-Lords-Prayer-David-Timms/dp/0764205064/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239396106&sr=8-1

After that I went home and took a nap.

After the nap I went out and ran as a part of my training, went about 4 miles if you care. (I did drink a protein shake remember my fast was from food not coffee and protein shakes…)

After my run I went over to Barnes and Noble and read a little on marriage/relationships. Ended my time there and spent the rest of the night w/ the family wondering why in the world I would fast and exercise the same day---stupid!

Overall it was a great day-