Catching 18 rainbow trout, devouring mounds of food around a campfire, taking four college grads to set up makeshift tents around two trees, kayaking and intense water fights at two lakes, staying up to watch the Olympics, playing mind-stretching group games, travailing the rugged terrain to enjoy the view at Faucherie Lake, and hiking near the scenic Island Lake. Our Praxis home group did a lot over this past weekend's Sierra Trip, but despite the flurry of activity, one of the most unforgettable parts of the trip was not so much in all the commotion, but it was in just spending time together and getting close to people in our home group.
Throughout this past weekend, we did a lot together, but more importantly, we got a chance to "let our hair down a little" as it were, and get to know each other better through shared meals, shared games, and in short, shared memories, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. It was, as we often say in our church, a memory-making moment, when we caught 18 rainbow trout at the Jackson Meadow Reservoir, or when four kayaks full of sisters tried to instigate a water fight against just two brothers, yet still ended drenched when they arrived back on shore, or when one sister ran away from a water snake faster than Usain Bolt ran the 100 meter dash. (OK, she wasn't as fast, but she was just as exciting to watch.) The trip was less about accomplishing a particular agenda, or who caught more fish, or who won the group games, but more about simply doing life together.
Some people who come to our church for the first time might feel overwhelmed by the sea of faces on a typical Sunday Worship Service, but this trip with our home group brought us together. It was perhaps reminiscent of the Acts 2 church—being together, breaking bread, and eating together with glad and sincere hearts, but this time, instead of breaking bread, it was banana boats, s'mores, rainbow trout and relational barriers, so that together, we could marvel at God's masterpiece in nature and praise Him for the bountiful blessings of Christ-centered relationships in our lives.