Authentic - Paradigm Retreat

This weekend was such a refreshing weekend. While at college, I have had the chance to help out in a local youth group. The group is awesome! 

The past weekend was their fall retreat. I was debating whether or not to go, and I just felt like if I was ever going to make any progress with the group, I needed to be on the retreat. So I went. 

The theme of the weekend was "Authentic." The whole weekend was centered around the idea of being an "Authentic Christian." Such a simple idea, but so profound. Going into the weekend I really honeslty felt like I was a true authentic Christian. But as the weekend went on God humbled me showed me different areas in my life that were hindering me. 

One of the things that hit home the most was an example that Pastor Lance gave while defining an authentic Christian. He talked about the knockoffs of gucci handbags and rolex watches that you can get in New York City or any other major city, and how you normally cannot tell the difference between a real gucci handbag and a fake. However, inside a real, genuine, gucci handbag, is the designers name, stiched into the fabric. He then defined a real, authentic Christian as being one who has their designer's name written on the inside of them. I just thought that was so good. 

This weekend was full of fun times, like retreats are. I got to spend a lot of time with different girls in the youth group. And I got to go to the beach! It was soo cold, but it was so worth it.