Saturday, February 25, 2012

Noontime Nachos

Delightedly munching on another cheesy chip, fingers covered in nacho sauce, I reached for a sip of my ice cold Dr. Pepper. It was Friday and that meant that my mom had given me a respite from ham sandwiches and carrots; instead, giving me two dollars and fifty cents with which to purchase my lunch. I don't know what she expected me to buy. Perhaps she envisioned a cafeteria-made lunch such as meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas, but those little white trays always looked gross, and the smell in the cafeteria often kept me from desiring to enter it. From time to time I would enjoy the French bread pizza or burritos that they kept stocked under the heat lamps, and I loved it when McDonald’s came to campus, but that was usually on Thursdays when I would walk by some of my peers standing in line for those coveted yellow wrapped burgers, while the rest of us walked by with our brown paper bags. Today, however, was Friday.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Rest for the Weary: A Pre-Lenten Retreat at Hilltop Renewal Center

O GOD of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength; By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This past weekend Clint and I went on a Pre-Lenten spiritual retreat to Idyllwild, where we stayed at a beautiful cabin called Hilltop Renewal Center.  According to their website http://hilltoprenewalcenter.org/, the renewal center beckons “the weary for a rest, the reader a quiet spot among nature, and the one seeking prayer a place to converse with God in His beauty,” and that was no false advertising!