Renew, Refresh, Rejoice

This weekend, Stephanie and I went on the Watermark Women's Retreat.  It was a wonderful weekend.  The women who worked hard to plan the retreat did a fantastic job organizing everything and planning the schedule.  We had four wonderful sessions with great speakers, amazing worship times, some time for reflection, several small group sessions, and lots of free time!  The retreat was held at Allaso Ranch in Hawkins, TX.  The camp property was beautiful, and the cabins and other accommodations were very nice!  The camp staff did an amazing job cooking for 500 women.  It was all quite tasty, and I think I had some of the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life!

The theme of the weekend was "Renew, Refresh, Rejoice."  We had great speakers talk about

1. Identity in Christ and how we can renew and realign that identity.
2. How we can be refreshed in Christ by spending time in his Word (and using our "mind time" to meditate on Scripture and His promises), focusing on eternity instead of always thinking about now, remembering that the Lord is sovereign, and loving and remembering we are loved.
3. Rejoicing in the value that we have in Christ and His eternal, unconditional love for us.

In addition to the great encouragement we got in each session and the great conversation we had with our small groups, we enjoyed lots of free time to play and relax.  There were lots of activities to choose from during free time - zip line (which was over the water and so fun!), ropes course, horseback riding, mountain biking, hiking, DIY nails and facials, movies, Zumba classes and more!

Saturday night, we made s'mores at the campfire behind our cabin.  When we got over there, the graham crackers were gone, so we made chocolate marshmallow sandwiches...pretty good!  It was chilly outside, so some of the girls decided to stay in the lodge and roast marshmallows in the fireplace.

It was nice to get home today, but I am so glad that I got to have this weekend away!

"Follow Jesus"

Sunday morning at church, Todd shared the following video before delivering his sermon.  I thought it was a great video!  It is a wonderful summary Jesus' death and resurrection, including events leading up to it.  It has been translated and presented in our "modern-day" language/communication via Twitter and other Social Media sites.  It's a little long, but totally worth your time.

Michael hunted it down on YouTube so that I could share it here.  I hope you enjoy it!

Would you be willing to wait?

This morning at church, our preacher, Gordon Dabbs, showed the video below.  It's pretty funny, but it also makes you stop and think about how often we are unwilling to wait for something better.  Too often, we go for instant or at least quicker gratification in exchange for something that could be even better or more fulfilling if we were willing to wait.

I hope you enjoy the video below as much as I did!  (Be sure your volume is on.)


The Marshmallow Test from Igniter Media on Vimeo.
In this popular test, several kids wrestle with waiting to eat a marshmallow in hopes of a bigger prize. This video is a good illustration of temptation and the hope in future rewards. This experiment is based on many previous and similar scientific tests.


Our videos are created as sermon illustrations and should be purchased for use in small groups, churches, assemblies, etc. Downloads and DVDs are available at ignitermedia.com.