What I learned this Weekend!

This weekend was good. If you read my previous blog about my Prayer to God that I shared, I did have some great quality time with God.
The weekend's message was by Pastor Jeff, our Associate Pastor at Salem FBC. He taught on Silence and Solitude and the practice of that. Starting with the Theories and Theology of it, and then moving on to how to do it and some great steps to help out with it.
We talked about the Greatest Commandment, to Love the Lord Your God with all you Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. We talked about the dangers of using just one of those ideas and neglecting the others. For example if you just love God with your Mind, you know everything about the bible but do not use the Heart/Soul or Strength, they you could get arrogant or legalistic. So we were taught to Love God wholly, with all our Heart/Body/Mind.
We also talked about the practice of being in Solitude and Silence. This was great. We actually had an hour and a half after a discussion to go be by ourselves, find a quiet place away from everyone else, and just spend that 1 1/2 with God. I was kinda worried about that because, although I like being alone, I was thinking I would do the stuff I was to do and then still have a hour left, but I did it and was surprised to find that it went very quickly. I was not worried to find things to pray/talk with God about and it came naturally to me. I loved being by myself on the Beach and just talking with God and thinking about things.

On a personal side, the weekend was good for me, but I did not get to know everyone as much as I would have liked. I didn't really connect with anyone that much. Sure, I had fun talking deeper with many, but I still did not feel that connected. There was a group of guys there that i was not really accepted into, (they were kinda young, first year of College, ect) and I got to talk with some, but it was the people I already knew from Sunday morning College SS, and other things like that.
(And I know that some of you are thinking that I did not feel as connected to one person specifically, but actually I found that that person is not who I am attracted to, you know what I mean, this is code, I know)
I could not sleep the first night, I was up playing a great game of Phase 10, good stuff, but then I got tired and retired to the sleeping quarters, but even with earplugs in and whatnot, I still could not sleep. Got very little sleep Friday night. Then Saturday night, I actually moved to a more comfy bed to try to sleep, but even after that I was still up at 11, so I just decided to drive back to Salem way late at night. (I was planning to leave early anyways so I could get back for Church and then head to PTown for Bethany's Bon Voyage Party, which I did)
So, I just got into Salem at around 1AM and hit the sack.

One other thing that I learned at this Retreat is that I am a Hurried person. In a Grocery Store checkout if there are two lines open I will chose one and then watch someone who got in the other line about the same time as me and see if I made the right choice. And Driving of course. When i was on my way there, I rush rush rushed, but I learned at the retreat that I need to be aware of that. So I decided to drive the speed limit and just settle to be patient while driving there, and it has made all the difference. I was amazed at my calmness while driving to and in Portland. I was not tense or waiting for anyone or anything. It was a good thing, and so I am going to be mindful of that and try to drive more patiently.