I won't lie, I went to this festival with more of a closed mind than last year, or the year before (I don't count the first year I went - as a self proclaimed atheist at the wise old age of 15 I wasn't exactly there to hear the speakers). I sat there on Friday night at the big top, head in my hands, fed up already. I was in pain and had just come to terms with the fact that the next 5 days were being spent using portaloos. Saturday, Sunday and Monday did get progressively more bearable though, I actually started to enjoy it. Summer Madness was something I hadn't been looking forward to at all, last year was VERY different and it lay ahead of a summer that changed a lot of my outlooks forever.
Having said that, the speakers this year were the best I've ever heard, the worship was some of the best there's ever been and the craic was second to none at camp. I met new people, I heard new things and more importantly I found myself wanting to get back on track as far as bible reading and prayer goes more than I have in a long time. That's to be expected after summer madness though, I don't know how long it'll be before the backslider in me surfaces again and I slip back into the same old routine. I do my best, it's all I can try.
I'm not saying that things didn't happen that annoyed me, every day things happened that made me actually quite sad. Between being last on the list of people to talk to for someone that's top of mine, and hearing things that quite frankly freaked me out on the last night. I got thinking about relationships a lot, not out of choice, but out of bombardment by one of my best friends. To be told in more words than this, that you're probably one of the worst "other halves" or that you're in one of the worst looking relationships about wasn't something I appreciated. In fact, far from it. What people need to realise is that there are different kinds of people in the world, not everyone conforms to the mushy, PDA stereotype of a boyfriend and girlfriend, and most of the time I'm ok with that.
I'll finish this brief of posts by saying summer madness 2012 had a mix of ups and downs, more downs than I'd hoped for, and more ups than I'd expected. Shane Claiborne made my weekend, and so did a chat I had walking through the forest on the second day.
Your love never fails,
Never gives up,
Never runs out on me.
thanks for new things to think about Glenarm.
No comments:
Post a Comment