Spiritual Retreat Day

Tim and I had a wonderful time on our spiritual retreat day. We got up to enjoy breakfast with Kaleb and Annie and then headed over to Penang Hill. We were quite surprised at how busy the Funicular railroad was at that time of day. Anyway, it was a gloriously cool day with a great breeze and we found a bench overlooking Georgetown to park ourselves on. We had brought our Bibles, some books, a few snacks, a blanket, pillow and water bottle. We read, prayed, read some more and even slept! After arriving back at the school, we enjoyed time together with the kids, eating supper, enjoying conversation and watching a NOOMA dvd entitled "You". Later, the kids headed to indoor soccer while Tim went to the workshop and I went down to the ocean to listen to worship music. It was a very profitable day and we are looking forward to our next retreat in late October.

Here are a few gleanings from our time of study and prayer:

From Richard Foster's The Celebration of Discipline, which I try to read every few years:

Superificiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people or gifted people, but for deep people.

Because we lack a divine Centre, our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things. We must clearly understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. We crave things we neither need or enjoy. We buy things we do not want to impress people we do not like. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick.

One of Rob Bell's comments from the "You" dvd - this made for some great conversation about "fierce reality" and do we have it and if not, why not and if so, how does it show itself in practice....

Some people are fierce with reality, aren't they? There is something going on inside of them so powerful, so tangible, you can't help but ask them questions; you're dying to know why they are the way they are. You want them to explain the reason for the hope that's within them. It's because when you're around people like this, you have this sense that you've in some way been with Jesus.

From Don Miller's book Searching for God Knows What:

...life is complex and the idea that you can break it down or fix it in a few steps is rather silly. The truth is there are a million steps, and we don't even know what the steps are, and worse, at any given moment we may not be willing or even able to take them; and still worse, they are different for you and me and they are always changing. I have come to believe the sooner we find this truth beautiful, the sooner we will fall in love with the God who keeps shaking things up, keep changing the path, keeps rocking the boat to test our faith in Him, teaching us to not rely on easy answers, bullet points, magic mantras, or genies in lamps but rather in His guidance, His existence, His mercy and His love.

I want to tell you without reservation that if there is any hope for you and me, for this planet set kilter in the fifteen-billion light year expanse of endless mystery, the hope would have to be in this Man who contends He is not of us, but with us, and simply is.

From Hillsongs United Live album Mighty to Save

There is no one else for me, none but Jesus

Crucified to set me free now I live to bring Him praise

From Jesus in Matthew 5:5-6

You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.