My Weekend at the Beach

This past weekend, I went to Virginia Beach with my youth group. During the one and a half days that we were there, we talked about noise and how it can separate us from God. On Friday night, we went for a walk along the beach until midnight and then we went swimming in the indoor pool of the beach house we were staying in. On Saturday, we ate breakfast and then had worship for two hours following breakfast. After worship we ate lunch and had free time to hang out and walk along the beach again if we wanted to. While I was walking on the beach, I found a bunch of shells that had washed up to shore and been buried in the sand. I picked up a few of them and cleaned them so I could pack them up and bring them home.

Our topic for the weekend was noise and how it can separate us from God. Our youth minister, Joe Torrence, told us that if we find a silent place to sit and focus on God, we will be able to feel his presence for as long as we linger in that place. One thing I learned from Joe’s discussions was that you can be anywhere in the world and still worship God, no matter how loud the noises around you are. Joe also told us that if we take the time to block out noises around us, we can form a closer relationship with God.

While we were walking on the beach on Friday night, I decided to walk barefoot across the beach which resulted in my feet becoming numb. It felt really weird to be walking after my feet were numb and after a while they started to hurt. Once I got back to the beach house, I dipped my feet into the warm water of the indoor pool. After soaking my feet for a few minutes, I finally got the feeling back in my feet. After dipping my feet in, I swam in the pool until 1:30 AM.

On Saturday morning, we woke up a little before 7:00 and ate breakfast. Following breakfast, we had worship for two hours. After worship, we had free time until lunch. After we ate lunch, we had more free time until dinner. During this period of free time, I walked along the beach again and collected shells that I found buried in the sand. I also swam in the pool for a couple of hours after returning from the beach.

I learned a lot of things during my weekend at the beach. I don’t think I will forget my experiences I had any time soon. I can’t wait until the next youth retreat so I can have more experiences like this one. God Bless.