Father Daughter Retreat! Part 3

This is the continuation of my story about the 2011 Vision Forum Father and Daughter Retreat, as told from my journal. . .

Day 3

Today we actually got to sleep in until 7:30 a.m.! That’s still only 6 ½ hours of sleep, but it felt good! We got dressed and then headed down for our last breakfast here at the Inn. It was quite delicious, although the fruit wasn’t as fresh-tasting this morning. I can hardly wait until the Farmer’s Market opens in Michigan!

On our way back to our room, we stopped and chatted with a young lady named D. She’s from Mississippi, and we really enjoyed talking with her. I think Daddy has been really impressed by how mature and polite the young ladies at this retreat are. That’s not something you often see in the average young lady today!



Daddy and I on the patio Sunday morning after breakfast.



We packed up all of our things and then checked out of the hotel around 10:00 a.m. We had about an hour and a half to kill before church started. So we grabbed second row seats and then chatted with people. We went outside and talked with Mr. M and his daughter J whom we met yesterday morning. I think we talked with them for nearly 45 minutes! They offered to take a picture of us in front of the Inn sign and we accepted.



Just after Mr. M took this picture, a lightning bolt struck, but unfortunately we didn’t catch it in the picture.



We went back inside as it began to rain again, and found our seats. We were sitting next to Mr. K and his twins that we met Friday night and behind Mr. B and his daughter N whom we met yesterday morning. We had some really good conversation. I love being able to discuss deep theological issues and feel challenged by others!

The service began around 11:45 a.m. Just as an FYI, Vision Forum starts just about everything at least 15 minutes late. J The service was amazing. We began by singing some simple hymns acapella. Then Mr. Brown gave a sermon on Deuteronomy 22:5. It was an excellent message on the fact that fathers have complete responsibility for everything their daughters do until the day of marriage. It was a good reminder to me that everything I do reflects either well or poorly on my father.

The service was 2 hours long. After the message was finished, Mr. Phillips and Mr. Brown accepted questions from the men. This is their typical model for their own church services every week, with the exception that they normally take communion each week as well. This portion of the service lasted well over an hour. It was very thought provoking, with many excellent questions asked.

Mr. Phillips prayed and officially dismissed us from the retreat. Daddy and I were able to meet and thank Mr. Brown for his messages over the weekend. I think he really impacted Daddy in a very positive way!

When we stepped outside of the window-less conference room, our eyes beheld torrential rain! We decided since we weren’t in a hurry to go anywhere, we would just hang around and chat with people until the rain let up. Once it finally did, we grabbed our clothes from the car, changed, and left.



It’s another rainy day in Georgia!



Driving towards Atlanta, we stopped at Ashley Park Mall and browsed at Barnes & Noble for a few hours. Then we drove to the airport, returned the rental car, and headed for security. Before going through, we paused and prayed, because I was very apprehensive about possibly being selected to go through the new body imaging scanners. We ended up going to the private security for people with lots of Sky Miles and we ended up in the only line NOT running the scanners! Praise the Lord for that! For dinner, we ate at Chili’s. I had a delicious pulled pork sandwich. Even amidst the very loud and chaotic atmosphere, we were able to work more on our Father Daughter interview. This has been a great exercise in getting to know my father better and learning how to share my heart with him.

We decided to go to a different concourse and get Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for dessert. It was good, but I’m still pining for that Crème Brûlée! J We sat and watched the news while we ate our ice cream. Apparently, in parts of Atlanta they had hail 4 inches in diameter! That’s nearly the size of a grapefruit!

We made it to our gate with plenty of time to spare. While we waited for our plane, we chatted with the Captain of our flight. Finally, at 9:15 p.m., our plane arrived. It was 30 minutes late. There was a maintenance problem with the lights, so it got delayed again until 9:25 p.m. We finally started boarding. But then the catering truck didn’t show up! Finally, at 10:00 p.m. they decided to take off without the food, which was fine with us. We just wanted to get home!

We landed around midnight. We collected our luggage, caught a shuttle to our car, and finally made it home! I have really enjoyed this trip. It has been such a special time with Daddy to grow in our relationship. It has also been very encouraging to meet other like-minded believers who could challenge us in our walk with God. I hope that I will be able to return to this conference in the future, and I would recommend that every father and daughter go if they have the chance. I guarantee you won’t regret it!