Greetings,
Thank you for coming to our retreat for both the Valleydale College Ministry and Young Adult Ministry! We are excited to worship the risen, ascended, and on-his-way-back Lord Jesus together! I, Zach Williams, want to personally extend a warm welcome to you, and I want to encourage you to make the most out of this retreat. Hang out with new people and share your testimonies with one another. Play some basketball, or ultimate, or cards, or 18-wheeler (if you know, you know). Take some time to read your Bible and pray at the sunrise or sunset. Whatever you do, enjoy this retreat as a time to glorify God and worship him for who he is and what he has done!
Introduction: Life’s Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How Questions
You probably ask some variation of these six questions everyday: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How? Here are a couple examples of these types of questions that come up in our context (college and young adult):
Who should I hang out with this weekend? Who is that guy running for SGA? Who should I date/marry? Who should I share the Gospel with? Who should I accept that job offer from? Who can I confess my addiction to? Who is going to help me deal with my grandma’s passing?
What did I even do last night? What should I do with my summer(s)? What should I cook for dinner tonight? What am I going to wear to the Bama/Auburn/UAB/Samford/(insert team) game? What are my spiritual gifts? What is the Gospel?
When should I get up in the morning to maximize my sleep time? When should I study? When should I go back to visit home? When should I have people over? When should I read my Bible and pray?
Where should I go to college/grad school/work? Where is the campus bookstore? Where should I get a job? Where should I go to church in college and afterward? Where is God calling me?
Why did I eat at Mein Bowl last night? Why did I skip that class when the professor literally told everyone the exam questions and answers that day? Why was I so mad at my parents about that? Why did I pick this major? Why did Jesus have to die for my sins?
How am I going to pay for school? How am I ever going to financially cover from this? How am I going to ask her/him out? How is Music Appreciation ever going to help me with my structural engineer job? How can I answer my Muslim friend’s questions about Jesus and the Bible? How can I keep living with this guilt?
I hope that you laughed at some of these examples; I also hope that some of the examples made your heart drop when you read them. Some of the questions we wrestle with in our minds are simple and silly. “Why did I eat Mein Bowl last night? I knew that it could survive a direct nuclear blast, but I did it anyway.” Other questions we wrestle with are complex, difficult to answer, and they weigh heavy on our hearts: “What am I going to do with my life? I am graduating next semester, and I still don’t have an internship or job lined up.” Life is full of hard questions. Often, we do not get the answers that we expect or want. Sometimes there is no answer to be found at all.
I would ask you to look back up at that bolded and italicized “Where” question: “Where is God calling me?” If you were not aware already, this retreat’s focus is Where? This devotional is designed to help supplement Pastor Brandon’s sermons and help to guide you (the reader) into understanding the nature of God’s call on your life and where he might be calling you.
It is my prayer that this devotional would strengthen your trust in the Father’s will for your life, cement your faith in Jesus Christ the Son as your life’s only hope, and make you more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your life as you “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16).
God Bless,
Zach Williams