Day 19

Difference Maker by Needtobreathe.

Kairos. Senior Year. 2016.

I used to go on these religious retreats back in high school called Kairos. Students would gather twice a year to share witnesses of God all while spending three nights in Cabrini retreat center. A truly wholesome moment among the absolute chaos that is senior year of high school. A moment to not worry about what college you were going to attend or what costume you were wearing for turnabout to just be totally present.

I was a retreatant my junior year and then became a leader on the upcoming retreat in December (shoutout 47). They did a little ritual where they would kidnap the upcoming leaders in the back of a car with a blindfold followed by a celebratory dinner. A group of many different personalities with many different backgrounds all piled in the trunk of a suburban and went to ridgeview grill that night.

That memory sticks with me to this day. The relationships I made with my team stick with me for a lifetime.

The whole fall we spent getting together on Sundays preparing for the winter retreat. When I look back on this point in time, everything just clicked. I was in the midst of senior year football season all while preparing for this unique retreat experience shortly after.

The leaders gave these presentations called “witnesses”. They were essentially these talks we would present in front of the group where we witnessed God at some point in our lives. We would play songs in between to break up the speech.

One of my co-leaders picked this as her song. We weren’t particularly close – she was my high school ex’s close friend. I’ll also be the first to turn off gospel when it’s on the FM radio.

We ended up having a great conversation during the retreat out of the blue. I remember it vividly. I think that’s what drew me to the retreat – the power of presence and limitation can go a long way (limitation meaning not having our phones like we always do in life) in tandem with a draw to God’s word.

This song reminds me of a beautiful conversation during a simple time.