“So you are telling me that you are going to show up at the airport and people you don’t know are going to pick you up in a bus and take you to the forest and you won’t have a phone or way to contact anyone for a week?” -Family & Friends
“Yep, that’s about right.”- Me
_________________________________________________
Last week I embarked on the first leg of this journey called, “Training Camp.” I hopped on a plane to Atlanta with my back pack, tent, sleeping bag, and a whole bunch other stuff that I realized I didn’t need on my back. I had no clue what I was about to experience and truthfully I was worried that I wasn’t prepared. But in faith, I decided that I would try and hope for the best.
Immediately after getting off the flight, the sea of red (my squad’s color) was overwhelming and comforting at the same time. The idea that I was the next suspect in a “Taken” scenario was eased and at least if I was going to be kidnapped if would be with a group. We spent the next couple hours getting to know one another and daydreaming about what we were about to experience.
Shortly after arriving at the camp and getting our tents set up, we were taken to our first session. During this time a couple questions were asked of us:
“Why are you here?”
“What are your expectations?”
“Do you trust God?”
I’m still working through each of these questions and hopefully I’ll be able to share with you the process of working through each one but I can say this, God showed up this week in my life. Throughout the week, I learned new things, was reminded of things I needed refreshers on, and experienced God’s love in a multitude of ways. He showed me that he still cares about me and began a healing process in my heart that was much needed. My prayer is that over the next year, I will be able to share my story with each of you and in turn the Lord will use it to inspire, challenge, and encourage each of you.
So many of you were worried that I would get “lost” in the woods or come back brainwashed…just wanted to confirm that I’m home safe and even though the picture below suggests otherwise I don’t think I was brainwashed! In later posts I will talk about some specifics I learned at camp and what that means going forward.
-7 am Yoga with my squad-
