Creation...

It was a beautiful February Saturday here in East Tennessee, and I was finally able to take advantage of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park only 45 minutes from Knoxville! One of the freshmen guys and I hiked to the top of the Chimney Tops...very steep (over 700 feet per mile!) but well worth the climb!

I was once again struck by the beauty of God's creation, and on the way back down the mountain (when we had a little more breath), we talked about how excited we were for the new creation, or more accurately, when this creation is made new. I can't even comprehend that these mountains, these trees, these rivers are only shadows of what awaits us. When this world is made new, we'll be able to explore without exhaustion or fear of injury. We'll be able to soak in God's glory revealed in His majestic creation forever, and in our enjoyment of His work, we will forever be engaged in worship...worship of the sort we only have a vague shadow of now.

In this present world, however, I'm left sore and with a couple of nasty blisters. But it was a fantastic trip, and I look forward to more in the future!

Winter Conference...

I apologize for the amount of time that's passed since my last post! The semester has gotten off to a fantastic start, and life has been quite busy! I'll update more general info on semester soon, but first...Winter Conference!

We returned from RUF Winter Conference on Sunday, and it was a fantastic weekend. RUF groups from the states of Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky all gathered together at Fall Creek Falls State Park in southeast Tennessee. There were approximately 700 students in attendance, 110 of which came with UT! (Only Auburn had us beat with 160).

We arrived on Friday night for the first large group. The music was led by Belmont campus minister Kevin Twit, and our speaker for the weekend was Marshall Brown, former campus minister at Alabama and current assistant pastor at Pacific Crossroads Church in Los Angeles. He preached on the importance of community.

On Saturday morning, students picked from a large list of seminars on various topics, all taught by different campus ministers. Options included Anger, Suffering, Science and the Bible, Justification, How to Read the Bible, the Ordinary Christian Life, God's Will, and Alcohol. After lunch, we hiked to the park's namesake, Fall Creek Falls. (The one rule emphasized all weekend was "Avoid the Precipice!")

That evening after supper we had another large group, followed by an enormous dance party DJ'd by UT's very own Brent Harriman. (disc-jockeying could very well be one of his spiritual gifts...)

After a final large group worship service on Sunday morning, we all headed home...refreshed but exhausted!

This was my 5th time going to Winter Conference at Fall Creek Falls. I went all 4 years with Samford RUF, and I have many awesome memories there. It was a little different this year, both going as an intern and also going with UT. Let's just say, things got a little rowdy with 60 guys crammed into 4 cabins. While I certainly didn't get much sleep and I might have found myself in a lake in 40-degree weather, it was a blast.

I really enjoyed getting to know a lot of the guys better, especially the upperclassmen whom I haven't been able to spend as much time around this year. I'm feeling more and more at home here in RUF @ UT, and this weekend helped that out even more. It's an awesome group, and I really do love those guys. There's nowhere else I'd rather be than right here in Knoxville, and I'm excited to see what God has in store. (but as I said, more on all this soon. if i'm going to keep this post to any kind of reasonable length, I must stick to winter conference).

I was also very encouraged to see our group's community grow. Marshall Brown's sermons on community were very thought-provoking, and it was so good to see freshmen guys getting connected with upperclassmen. Thanks to one of our upperclassmen, Weston Duke, we have also recently started an "RUF Big Brother" program where freshmen guys signed up to be matched with a sophomore or junior guy from Ministry Team, simply to build friendships and strengthen the sense of community. The weekend went a long way in making the freshmen feel much more a part of RUF and much more connected to the older students.

Thank you to everyone who was praying for us this weekend! It was definitely a great success, and all the glory goes to God for a wonderful Winter Conference.

And now...the pictures. I must admit I didn't take any of these. I harvested them all off of Facebook, but I of course got their permission first.

The whole UT-RUF group at the Fall Creek Falls overlook (or at least most of us...there's really no good way to tell...)

Our campus minister Brent with his son William

Students outside the Fall Creek Falls conference center

RUF Senior Guys...we'll definitely be missing them next year! The two on the left just interviewed for the RUF internship!

Sophomores with co-intern Mary Beth

A group of our students at Large Group...co-intern Anne in the center foreground.

Me sharing a special moment at lunch with Alex, senior and, Lord willing, future RUF intern!

Some of our crazy freshmen guys...20 freshmen guys made the trip! Awesome!

Some of our sophomores at the foot of Fall Creek Falls

Some more of our awesome freshmen at the falls overlook

Stay tuned for another upcoming update on the semester so far!