TWELVE

This was the theme of Winterfest this year... and what a powerful weekend it was!!  It's amazing to me how when Brett and I go on trips with Univeristy Church's Youth group (and spend any time with them for that matter) how much WE get out of it- how much God speaks to us!!  There were 12 disciplines that were challenged before us in order to become a better disciple for Him and how obedience to Jesus demands a radical transformation of our lives.  These disciplines will help us be more of Jesus and less of ourselves, these disciplines were practiced by Jesus himself- if we want to be like Jesus, then these disciplines give us insight into living like he lived.  These disciplines are:

Prayer, Meditation, Fasting, Study, Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service, Confession, Worship, Guidance, and Celebration

Each one of these were elaborated, and wow, were eyes opened on how far away from practicing these we  (I am) are.  It didn't matter if you were the youngest or the oldest person there, we can all relate to some of these issues, and we all have our struggles (and excuses).  There were some amazing speakers (Rich Little, Jeff Walling, Josh Ross, and Patrick Mead- amongst other talented speakers), awesome praise, and wonderful fellowship.  The weekend was great.  It's very easy to go away on a conference/rally and return home on fire and ready to serve, the goal and challenge is to keep it.  My plan is to go through the study book we were given and strive to discipline myself!! (Julie Kopf, you were missed, for I kept thinking of you and your March 1 challenge you are putting on all of us!!!)

I was very excited as we brought our camera along and carried it with us everywhere-- only, I didn't get it out as much as I had planned!  Next year, I'll do better :)

University Youth

and for some reason, these shirts were the hit of all!  You couldn't walk down the street without seeing at least 5 people in each group wearing one!

Sunday morning the artist started with a blank canvas, and while we began to worship, he began to worship through his painting.. in only about 45 minutes he had this..

 and when the lights went out, we saw this...

We had such a great trip, and this has become a trip we look forward to every year!

Of course the good food always helps too :)

we passed these goodies up this year.. (actually we ran out of time to go back and get them :) )

John Will enjoyed the trip as well, as he was kicking and rolling around inside every time we began to sing- I loved it!