I truly cannot believe that the backpacking section of our OLD School semester is already over! It was such an amazing time of growth for all of us as we really did grow in our individual walks with the Lord as we started building relationships with our “classmates”-our body of Christ for the semester. What an incredible opportunity to be able to learn from Zach about what true community within the body of Christ is supposed to look like and then to be able to immediately turn around and practice that Biblical community with these brothers and sisters as we lived in such close physical community. As Zach pointed out one time, the way that we had to rely on one another physically was the way that we would also be learning to rely on one another spiritually. The way that we encouraged one another on an especially long hike or difficult slope paralleled the way that we would be encouraging one another in our spiritual walks. For me it was really refreshing to be in an environment where we built relationships based on communicating and truly sharing our lives with one another-and doing this face-to-face instead of the often shallow communication that we experience in the world of facebook and text messaging. I’m so thankful for everyone who has dedicated so much time praying for this time-I praise God for the areas that He is breaking me in so that He can truly use this time to grow me in His Word as He gives me opportunities to apply what I’m learning.
