Anvil Retreat, Work, and Olympics

Hey Everyone!

It has been almost a month since I posted last. The main reason being that I really didn't have anything to blog about. Now, I do have something to blog about! I'm going to start with Anvil Retreat that the guys in our youth group took this last week.

We had our annual Anvil retreat this past week. A common theme of this retreat includes smashing things with a big mallet, eating lots of meat, and talking about what it means to be a man. This past week was different. Instead of students leaving the retreat talking about the amazing meat and smashing, they talked about how they felt, christian community, and changes. So what happened? Well, we did a lot of things different. We didn't have any curriculum. As a matter of fact, us leaders didn't really have to do much except show up, participate, and step in when needed. There were two guy speakers for the weekend and they used a lot of symbolism, activities, engaged the students, and had students and adults participate in activities that helped encourage community and development. We all "checked in" with how we were feeling (anger, sadness, fear, or joy), and we looked each other in the eye and were brutally honest in answering the tough questions. In short, this retreat was about being true men. The exciting part is this is just part one. I think that we'll have a lot more retreats like this in the future.

In other news, I have been working. Mainly my work for the past couple weeks has been proofreading and entering data. It's not the most exciting thing, but it needs to be done. Since I am a "C" personality and details are my thing, it has been a little enjoyable for me. That sounds really nerdy, but it is what it is. I have been listening to a couple of podcasts. Some from my home church of Brentwood Baptist and some from John MacArthur on his Grace to You Ministry Podcast. I have also downloaded Steve Martin's new album, "The Crow" and have been listening to that. It is really good!

I have been satisfied with the Olympics. I have enjoyed Speed Skating, Skiing, Snowboarding, and even Ice Skating! I am proud of how America has been doing. It will be pretty awesome if we win the medal count...for the first time! I don't know what I am going to do without the Olympics. The Olympics helped me get my sports craving satisfied when NFL ended. I guess now I will just have to get really involved in March Madness. I might need to get involved in a competition or pool somewhere so I will become invested in it.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great rest of the day!