So, I went on a youth retreat this past weekend. It was the most amazing weekend I've had, oh pretty much, ever! The speaker was Mark Gold. He was (for lack of a better word, Noah) amazing! He talked about the first 8 chapters of Joshua (old Testament Bible for those who don't know), which starts out with the death of Moses. Then the Lord talks to Joshua and tells him that he needs to prepare the Israelites to cross the Jordan river into the promised land. And the Lord also says to him that he needs to be strong and courageous because Joshua was to lead these people. Joshua then asked 2 spies to go into Jericho (the first city across the river) and get a feel for what they were up against when they came to reclaim the promised land. These two spies stayed at a prostitute's house that night. She gave them shelter and hid them from the king of Jericho when he asked her where the spies went that were seen going into her house. She lied in order to protect these men, but she also made them swear an oath to her that when the Israelites came to conquer Jericho that she and her family would be protected and not die like the rest of the city. The men promised her that if she kept their location secret, that God would protect her and her family when the city was destroyed.
When the spies returned to the camp (which was still on the other side of the Jordan), they told Joshua that the people of Jericho were melting in fear. The who camp then moved to a spot very close to the Jordan for 3 days. The Lord then gave Joshua instructions on crossing the river (which was very high, since it was spring). He told Joshua to send the priests across first with the ark of the covenant and then everyone else would be able to pass. And then Joshua followed God's instructions, and God parted the Jordan River so that all of the Israelites could cross safely. When they reached the other side, God gave more instructions to Joshua through an angel or himself in human form who was holding a sword, and the man said, Joshua take off your sandals for the place you are on is holy ground. The instructions were: March around Jericho with seven priests in front carrying the ark with all of the armed men following. Do this for six days, and on the seventh day have the trumpet blowers blow while you march around the city seven times and on the seventh time when the trumpeteers (I knew there was a better word than trumpet blowers) blow their horns, have all the men shout and the walls of Jericho will come tumbling down. and the people will go up, every man straight in. So Joshua following these instructions. Now this was harder than it sounds, because for the first six days, not one of the Israelites were allowed to speak, meaning that as they were being taunted by the men of Jericho they could not say a word!
How hard would that be. I know that I would not be able to do it. Which is one of the things Mark talked about because after the walls of the city came down God instructed the warriors to go through the city and collect all of the riches but not to take anything because it belonged to God. But a man named Achen could not follow these instructions. He kept a few pieces of silver and gold. And one of the things that hit me most was an illustration that Mark used. He asked us to close our eyes and bow our heads and imagine that we were holding a cup in our hands. So we all made the motions with our hands that we were holding a cup. Now this was to signify that Christ's blood was in this cup, and his blood is reason I'm going to Heaven. Mark's point was that to Achen, the price for Christ's blood was only a few pieces of silver and gold. And he asked us all to think of what our price would be, a car, a house, winning the lottery?? To me none of these are worth anything near the price of the blood of Jesus.
Mark also talked to us about going back into "the real world" since times at retreats can be so good, but once we leave, we just go back to our old selves instead of living for Christ as we should. So he encouraged us to not give up when we come across our first Jericho (hence the title of this blog) and my first Jericho post retreat was at work today. I had a bad morning, and my first reaction was to be grumpy, instead of giving God glory for having a job, or for the people that I work with. I also need to work on swearing..and it's not necessarily what's coming out of my mouth. It means the same thing when it's thought, or in my case, said in spanish. God still knows what I mean.
Oh, that retreat was a lot of fun too. Not just serious time. I got to play with the worship band, which was a cool experience for me. And I also fell, while pushing Jake on a swing, think I bruised my tailbone (I know probably too much info), but it was fun too. And I was also blessed by the girls I had in my cabin. They don't all know it, but they're so special.
Ok so, if I offended you, get over it. What I'm saying is the truth, and if you can't handle it, well maybe we need to talk. I'd be happy to tell you more.
Have a wonderful week!!!
