Grounded

This weekend the FSU Wesley Foundation ventured to Mentone, Alabama for their annual Winter Retreat. The theme of the retreat was "Grounded" and have a deeply rooted faith. The thematic verse came from Jeremiah Chapter 17 and verses 7 and 8:

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

The promise of the Christian faith is not that we will be cloistered from pain and sorrow; rather, that God never leaves us alone. But, in order to persevere through pain (and never fail to bear fruit, no matter what the circumstances), there must be a depth to our faith and relationship with Christ. There were many talks which I'm certain to draw on in future blog posts; but, the greatest impression was on the need for wisdom and prayer.

We are not grounded for individualistic reasons: to help ourselves flee from the devil and to maintain peace in the midst of anxiety. Those are good things. But, the world is desperately in need of men and women who have wisdom and peace and bear the fruit of the spirit. We cannot give something to somebody that we do not have ourselves. There must be a humility and understanding that we need God. More on this soon.