Beauty in the Rough

"How was your trip?" she asked. I smiled and started to say "It was great!" but something stopped me. Makeing my reply more like, "It was grr...good." There was an obviouse hestation. Why?
The teaching was convicting and powerfull, the fellowship was sweet, God was obviously present... why was it only good?

This Retreat did not go at all as I had planned.
Not only did I feel on guard the whole time, but I also felt like an outcast.

The outcast part couldn't really be helped... I have an ingrown toenail, giving me grief so I did'nt swim or play any sports. However, like everytime I visit up north, I feel the obligation to visit my family and an old friend. I love them like crazy, but I feel like I'm distracted from the reason I came in the first place. When I'm at Retreat, I want to be at Retreat... to meet new people, grow in relationships and take part in the activities. Instead I'm always feeling guilty for "only having a couple hours to hang out" with them.

However...
With my "outcastness" I saw a new perspective of Retreat than had I hung out with my usual crew. The Lord suprised me with a renewed friend.
See, there was a guy interning there who was hanging out with us once in a while as he helped the staff.
We had talked a little in orientation, and I learned that I knew him from two different RC's: '02 and '06. It felt nice to reconnect with someone from that "original" group.
well, as I soaked my foot in salt water on the stairs in the back (my self-proclaimed exile)I noticed that he had been standing against the wall the whole time... so I offered him a stair. He took it, and every Bible session after that, he was there.
Once while I was watching people swim and play games (feeling very much a shadow) he came and sat by me and just started talking. After agreeing to play some tetherball with him, we began to talk about prayer cards. I hadn't ever thought of making some up before until he mentioned it. When I declined, he just off-handedly mentioned,

"I'll just keep praying for you."

intrigued,...

"You pray for me?"
"Ya, you and your family."
...

At this I pushed further to find out that not only had he been praying for me AND one of my best friends from FL, he had been praying for us since that first RC in 2002!!

REALITY CHECK

Who am I to deserve that kind of prayer? What kind of man am I that I don't give that kind of prayer? I always feel like a shadow, someone that isn't remembered after sleep.
REMINDER: Live on purpose, because you never know who you may touch, and who my remember you forever (how will they remember you).

To think I never would have been blessed through it all.
Thank you God for my in-grown toe-nail, because it opened my eyes to reality.
Thank you Jo.. though you quietly serve, you are a greater man of God than I, and I am eternally grateful.

God, bless him.