This is your spiritual family, this is a family dinner
Compared to what you devoured on this warm Turkey Day, the 1lb buffalo burger looks feasable. Shuffled into line at Fuddruckers that thought runs through your mind. Then your bible study guys chime in, Dude, you can sooooo own that burger. How about a milk-shake. Talk about a man meal. You wipe the sweat from your brow as you step up to the teller, you feel your heart beat slower as you glance once more at the menu, you clinch your fists as you clear your throat. You place your order. 1lb buffalo burger with onion rings and a strawberry shake.
Your name is called, you run to the window, you pick it up, you load it down. Then you find your place agmonst the longest table ever contructed at Fuddruckers. You squezze in between your Cru Crush and your best bud, across from your favorite staffer and his wife. Then you pray. This is your spiritual family, and this is a family dinner. You are loved here, and you love others.
Fellowship at the dinner table is the strongest and most valueable. I am sure Encounter has figured that out because several times during our stay, time is given for each campus to gather over food to fellowship. It just oozes with Christ’s love.
So as you sit down over a hot meal with your family at home, be thankful for that time and look forward to the meal with your spiritual family in Greensboro.
(Tennessee’s CRU still calls dibs on Fuddruckers.)
You might consider the charge after you read this
So when you sign up for Encounter09 at midsouthcru.com there is an option for a refrigerator to be in your room for an extra $35 bucks. You might want to consider the charge after you read this.
When I went to Encounter for my first time last year my buddy Steven and I decided that we would save some money (since we are poor college students.) So we bought some deli meat, bread, and the all the fixing for cold-cut sandwiches for lunch instead of China Moon at the Mall’s Food Court. Great idea! So, of course, we find ourselves in the Walmart aisles past midnight that night. After check out, we arranged for our groceries to be stored in one our staff’s refrig in their room. I slept well that night knowing that my lunch was in a safe place, looking forward to it the next day.
As we break from campus time, the next day, we run by our staffer’s room grab lunch and chow down. We enjoyed our lunch so much that we got a mid-day nap in, and of course woke up 2 min before the next session started. Out the door we went. Leaving the deli meat, bread, and fixings all out.
The next time that our low-cost lunch had crossed our mind was the following day, at lunch, and then it hit us. We came to door of the room that we had lunch in, slowly turning the door knob, we cracked it open expecting green gas to emerge. It didn’t, close call. We entered the room with extreme caution, one after the other. We combed the room just like CSI would do and found the victim. To our surprise the deli meat was not bubbling with green bubbles or the bread with flaky mold so, ate it.
The rest of the day, the rest of the trip, the rest of the year, I have felt fine but if I don’t show up to CruTru09 fear the worst. I’ll probably be in the hospital with green bubbles and flaky mold all over me.
So just take this into account when you come to the “Refrigerator in Room” question.
See ya December 28th, hopefully alive and well.
Dear Potential Encounter Attendee,
This letter is sent to you due to awesomeness overload. From your campus or other venues you have been bombarded with promos, testimonies, pictures, itineraries, skits, as well as morse code and smoke signals pushing Encounter. You are probably thinking, Cru is my social circle as well as my outreach to my campus, I need a break from it all this winter. Just me and Jesus.
I have been in your shoes, not wanting to go ride the next Crusade wave of involvement. You are absolutely right, you do need a break. But I have also been in Encounter’s shoes, so hear me out.
Encounter will be awesome, but that is not the point.
The point is Christ. The talks are Christ. The fellowship is Christ. The worship is Christ. The campus time is Christ. The down time is Christ. Words can’t truelty explain it, but that is the point. Just Christ.
Encounter09: Christ the Truth is about Jesus. Five days of him, his truth in the world, and his truth in your life. It can sound like an overwhelming time of teachings and discussion, but truthfully it is a time of rest where you are completely consumed by Christ, his love, and his truth. You need a break. Just you and Jesus. Find him there.
I don’t want you to hear/read about the experience afterward and regret not going. I have been in those shoes as well, the most uncomfortable pair I have ever worn. Take the chance to encounter Christ and His Truth at Encounter09.
Your Fellow Brother in Christ,
Patrick
benandjacq