Running the Race...

Now I am not a runner myself, but I can say that if anything is going to motivate me to run it is a combination of encouragement and competition because, yes, I have been known to be a bit competitive from time to time (please keep your snickers and smirks to yourselves, friends). I love how the Spirit uses Scripture to cut straight to our core:

Therefore, since we are surrounded

by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us... run with endurance the race

that was set before us. Hebrews 12:1

That was the theme verse for our church retreat last weekend.

Don't get me wrong, the whole retreat was wonderful: excellent speakers, challenging sermons, inspirational worship, and (leave it to the French) great food; but the part that made the most impact on me was simply the fellowship. Of course, that only underlined the first portion of our theme verse, "since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." I was SO blessed by spending time with this incredibly eclectic bunch: North Americans, Europeans, Asians, Africans, and South Americans (unfortunately, Australia was not represented... maybe we should invite some Australians to our church ;). How incredible is that?!?! And, even better, we found great unity and friendship because we are the body of Christ. Beautiful. So, for me, the photo version of this weekend is basically a montage of people and their interactions.

Mad and Stephanie, adorable.

Tiffany, gorgeous.

Mad... not sure what he was doing, actually, but it made me laugh!

Marwen wins the prize for kindness to the little humans; he was a pro with Oliver.

And good with sweet little Gabriel, too.

Speaking of little humans, there were some PRECIOUS children there. Lucy-Bell (hope I spelled that right, Jaz!) has the most beautiful skin.

And I love daddy/daughter pictures.

And mommy/son pictures.

Talk about Bambi eyes. I don't know how you do it, Tim and Rachel; I'd give in to those eyes every time.

And precious little Jude was an angel, as usual.

I think the prize for the most photogenic child ever, though, goes to Joni. Even with a busted nose (little boys will fall down...), he is loved by the camera.

Doesn't this look like it should be on the front of the game box?

Speaking of games, the adults had some serious competition going. The basketball started right away, and from the pictures, Sherman seems to be the star (though I think it might partly just be that his red shirt stood out well!):

Connie and Thomas (bless you, both!) organized some hilarious games for the group. The spelling game (teams had to spell the answers to the clues given; first time to complete it got a point) had some teams strategizing.

Others seemed to be questioning their answers.

While still others were simply competing. Sandra's face. Pastor Al's stance. Priceless.

Most importantly, fun was clearly had by all.

Another game (4 on a couch) had half the room removing one shoe. Brilliant idea, by the way, for making two teams; much better than the risque "shirts and skins" m.o. of most junior high football games.

It took us all a while to understand the game. In our defense, it's a complicated game to begin with, but there were close to 50 people, many whose first language was not English, and plenty of people who did not know everyone's name. I repeat, complicated.

But fun. And, for the record, the one-shoes won. [yes, that's my foot in the brown and orange doing a victory kick]...

Even more hilarious was the game Fast and Furious, which we played the following night. Poor Thomas and Connie tried to referee, but the mobs did not make it very easy on them.

Just to give you a taste of the game, it ended Olivier and Fred wearing lipstick. I repeat, hilarious.

There were also board games galore and even a little karaoke. Good times.

One of the highlights was the beach, a mere 5 minutes away. I took about a million beach pictures, but most will be saved for another day. For now, suffice it to say:

And Rachel found a cool shell.

On the way back, Tim and Blaine raced. Blaine smoked his dad, of course.

And Dannayea joined them after the race.

Truly, I cannot put into words the beauty of this weekend. The camaraderie. The encouragement. The blessing.

A family for us so far away from our own. Thank you, all, for being part of our great cloud of witnesses.