Off-Season Blues

Our off-season is rapidly coming to an end, praise God!!!!  From December to January it is way to quiet out here.  Missing are the joy-filled sounds of laughter, the acrid smoky remains of a fabulous bonfire, delicious aromas from the kitchen wafting through the air,  the friendly chatter with my friends volunteering in the kitchen and the smiling faces of new friends as they file past the serving window.  The break is lasting a little to long this year and it is my prayer that the sagging economy isn't finally impacting this little piece of heaven on earth!!!!  

Love In Transit: COLLIDE RETREAT

A WOW weekend with a fantastic bunch of Austin Community College Students on a retreat sponsored by several Austin area churches.  The conference room rocked as (2) great bands took turns leading the students in such powerful singing that we could hear it in the dining hall! Teams of students played field games, others played board games and cards, a handful of powerful speakers shared wisdom for living a meaningful, purposeful, fulfilling life, and there was plenty of down time for naps, walks and conversation with new friends.  The only thing missing was the traditional Cross Roads bonfire.  Will the burn ban ever end????    

Women For Christ

What a blessed weekend for all concerned!  This was their second year at Cross Roads and it was wonderful seeing old friends and making new ones.  Bondages broken, hearts healed, friendships made, blessings abounded for everyone - including us.  Christ was definitely  "in the building"!!!!!

FOCUS Learning Center

We loved having this great group of college students from Texas A&M University - and they loved the food as show by this "Thank You Poster".   We thoroughly enjoyed having this energetic, positive and fun bunch.

Gateway Marriage Camp

An amazing weekend with some amazing new friends!  Gateway - Austin brought thirty-four couples to their Marriage Camp at Cross Roads.   They explored dance as a symbol of spiritual unity, communications by working together on the low element team building stations, long walks in the woods, dynamite campfires with lots of s'mores and much, much more.

Saturday night the Marriage Camp leaders decorated the dining hall with tons of candles and Rob served a special, romantic Italian dinner with his scrumptious chicken pasta, a spinach, strawberry and roasted pecan salad, cheese garlic bread, AND..... a one of a kind dessert ... (see below) - a chocolate heart shaped plate, a vanilla ice cream heart drizzled with white and dark chocolate and topped with a strawberry.

We were blessed to support this wonderful ministry of Gateway Austin and hope to see them again soon!

Transformed

In January, we hosted a great bunch of dedicated Christ followers!  The core planning group from Antioch Community Church in College Station came out to spend some uninterrupted time together focusing on their ministry goals for the new year. Their commitment and love for Christ and each other was truly inspiring! 

On a Friday afternoon a couple of weeks later, ten men drove up in procession of trucks, including one pulling a 20' long gooseneck trailer loaded with what appeared to be gigantic cement blocks. The advance party sent to set up for a youth retreat scheduled for St. Mary Cathedral of Austin that weekend had arrived. They transformed the front of the Conference Center with what turned out to be styrofoam blocks.  When the giant Greyhound bus arrived, the thirty-five excited youth were greeted by several very special worship spaces guaranteed to wow them!

Then, just last week the camp was once again transformed by the SNOW and ice that hit most of Texas!  A couple of pipes froze, but they were easily thawed with patient use of a hair dryer and lots of hot water.  No damage was done, praise God!   Pat and I  had fun trying to identify all of the critter tracks we found in the snow.  Squirrel, bobcat, coyote?  We still aren't sure what they all are!

Life at Cross Roads is good and we are looking forward to seeing new and old friends who come to Cross Roads in 2011!

Flame of Faith

Last weekend Cross Roads was blessed by a small group of youth from University UMC in Austin.  They piled out of the church van Friday night at about 9PM ready to fire up the bonfire and toast marsh mellows.  As the night deepened, attention waned and the flames ebbed to smoldering ash, they spread their blankets under a bright night sky and watched as clouds skittered rapidly across a full moon.  Ingrid, their pastor, said that as they watched the clouds zoom by they all experienced the very real feeling of being passengers riding on a twirling ball sailing through the universe.  This feeling, this realization of the immenseness of God's universe, was a humbling first for some of them.  

In the early dawn hours a few sleepy eyed boys poked the embers of the fire to life.   Throughout the day as time permitted, twigs, sticks and other small offerings were chunked into the hungry fire igniting random small bursts of flame. As the busy-ness, laughter and antics of the day melted into the evening, larger limbs and logs were added to the glowing coals and flames once again leapt high illuminating the way to the candlelit Labyrinth.

As I observed and visited with Ingrid about their stay here, it occurred to me that the ebb and flow of the weekend was a lot like life.  Sunday morning we pile into churches ready to light the fire - sing, praise, worship, fellowship and to hear into the humbling truths of the scriptures.  Then Monday dawns and the fire is faltering. Our attention wanes and forces mount to snuff our faith flame.  We struggle to maintain, and throughout the week we chunk in a prayer or two, an email devotional, and other small offerings,  just enough to keep the embers alive and spark some random small bursts of flame.  Our Spirits rise with the flaming sun on Sunday morning as we once again show up eager to sing, praise, worship, fellowship and to hear the humbling truths of the scriptures.

I am blessed to learn something from everyone who comes to the Cross Roads.  Last weekend spoke to me about paying closer attention to feeding the fire of my faith every day, every hour, every minute, lest it falter.