Some of Calvary’s young adults consider what it means to allow God to direct their lives. Left to right: Becky Ewald, Katie Wiley, Stephanie Claros, Erika DeSchiffart, Celeste de Peiza, Elena Minnow, Ian DeShiffart. Photo by Matthew Rudd
Is the ancient maxim, “three steps forward and two steps back,” or “two steps back and three steps forward?”
It was definitely the latter for young adults attending the first Calvary Baptist Church retreat March 8–10. They discovered the blessing of retreating to empower advancement.
“As university students, we have so much going on in our lives that we never take time to stop and ask ourselves: what has God been doing in my life apart from school, work, and social life?” said Michael Aldaba, a participant and University of Ottawa student.
Calvary’s energetic Pastor Matt Rudd and his wife Angela coordinated the retreat, held at a large, rural house north of Ottawa. Twenty people attended.
Clyde and Zeta MacDonald led the spiritual teachings.
They guided the young adults through incidents in the life of the Biblical character Joseph, who was forced to stop and reconsider his life. He was thrown down a well, sold into slavery, and wrongly imprisoned.
Joseph had his whole life planned out, but God changed the direction. His story is told in the Bible book of Genesis.
The MacDonalds prompted their audience to consider what was meant by: “God’s plans always trump man’s plans.”
In all that Joseph experienced, he trusted God. He lived with integrity. He did not yield to temptation.
“It was so encouraging to fellowship with young people who are passionate about a relationship with God and who share the same values as I do,” said University of Ottawa student Elena Minnow. “I really enjoyed getting to know them and getting away from all the business of life and having time to learn more about God with all of them.”
