CHIC 2009

CHIC brought a lot of firsts for me.

My first time to see Erwin McManus.
My first time to be a part of some major discipline for students.
My first time to justify that many naps during a conference. :P
My first time to write a letter to a senator.

So much of CHIC was spent figuring out what we were doing, as all but one of the leaders have never been to CHIC before. We were often tired and spent, but still had some really great moments with the students.

I also feel like we grew closer as leaders, having many moments of laughing together---

I forgot my deodorant and so I just used a little bar of soap to scrub my arm pits every now and then (is this too much information?) that was provided for us in our dorm (we were given several). I told one of the leaders later that day to make sure to avoid using the soap on the far left.

"Why?" she asked. "I used that to wash my face this morning."

---and several moments of crying together for the sake of these students. I don't even know if I've ever wept that much, thinking about how deep the hurts of our students run.

Admittedly too, I struggled this week with justifying the camp experience. So much of my heart wishes that these experiences with God and each other were more regular, and didn't require a week away to come to this point. I want to think more on this topic, and maybe even write something about it.

Overall though, CHIC was a lot of fun. Lord willing, I'll get to go again.