Day 5 - Wednesday - Injured

The theme of day 5 CIY Summer Conference is Injured. In the morning session, Doug Aldridge, a professor at Ozark Christian College gave a great message. He talked about David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel, but one the interesting things he showed us was - if you look at the chapter titles before and after David's sin in 2 Samuel 11, you can see there was a turning point. The first half of the book is about the rise and the second half (until the last two chapters) is on the downward slope. When Doug began, he showed us that "one day" and one sin or bad decision can leave us injured and down the wrong path. He concluded by showing us that "one day" and one decision can turn us back along the right path. When we are injured, healing does not start with the person that injured you, but instead it starts with you and often starts with you saying the words "I'm sorry."

Today was also the day of the Compassion/AIDS in Africa session. What a powerful session and the impact it is leaving on students. Abbey, my wife, talked to a young girl after who has had someone close to her (I think it was a family member) die because of the AIDS virus.

Today during free time, Ben, Travis and I made our way to another local bike shop and then back to REI. At REI, we were walking out, and I decided to ride my bike back to campus. It was about 8-10 miles, but I had no idea where I was going. I knew I need to go north, but the parts of LA you are suppose to drive through with your doors locked - I rode my bike through them not having a clue what I was doing. 45 minutes later I was back at the dorm. I did feel a little like Michael Bluth off Arrested Development riding his bike all over Orange County.

In the night session, students are asked to go and write their injuries on large plexiglass. After the night was over, Kevin had all the staff stay in the auditorium and pray for the hurts. We then got back together and discussed the injuries that stood out to each of us the most. To me the most reoccurring theme and hurt was abandonment and betrayal. There were many about relationships with their parents, and the one that got a hold of me was, "My mother and knowing that I was a mistake." This stood out to me because of someone I used to work with who has an amazing testimony about how he was supposed to be aborted and he was a "mistake."