His Power is Made Perfect in My Weakness: SNOW!

I am going to try to catch up on a few posts, even though this occurred over two weeks ago! We of course were hit by a ton of snow like the rest of the East coast. Blacksburg got about 13 inches or so; the most since 1996. I was so blessed to be able to enjoy the snow with a bunch of great friends. Finals had ended for Tech students the Thursday before the snow, but my three roommates, their girlfriends, and a few other friends decided to stick around for the weekend in order to enjoy the madness together! What followed was a weekend straight out of Acts 2: 42-47 which states:

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

For three days, the eight of us (My roommates Barry, Josh, and Phil, Josh's girlfriend Meredith, Barry's girlfriend Mandy, and two other friends Donny and Clare) lived life together. Meredith, Clare, Mandy, and Donny came over on Friday before the snow came. They brought clothes, food, and sleeping supplies with the plan to crash here all weekend. We were snowed in after the 13 inches hit us and were well prepared for a weekend of fun!

On Friday we stayed in all day, playing lots of games and eventually watching the movie UP. On Saturday we went sledding and eventually helped move around five cars out of the snow. Barry almost killed himself attempting to surf down the hill over a ramp on a sled! At one point we were in front of Donny's apartment helping a car get free. After achieving success we decided to completely clean Donny's kitchen. With six of us cleaning, it was like Extreme Kitchen Makeover! It was things like this that made the weekend so great; we were serving others and each other as a community, giving to all that had a need like the Scripture says.

That night we went to the Hokie basketball game. Tickets were free because of the weather conditions. Though there were not many people in Cassell Coliseum, we had an absolute blast. We destroyed our opponent (Charleston Southern), which was no surprise, but it was the actions of my crazy friends that made the night memorable. At every timeout they would play music over the loud speaker and my friends were dancing their hearts out to each one! I have never had so much fun at a Hokie basketball game and it wasn't even competitive! Amazing what a blessing good friends are. We returned to the apartment that night to find the Cowboys up 17-3 at halftime over the then undefeated Saints, a very pleasant surprise! The Cowboys made it close, but pulled off the victory, capping a wonderful day.

Due to the weather, all church services were canceled. We decided as a group to have our own church gathering at our apartment. It was really cool! We played some worship songs, shared what God had been teaching us, prayed together, and finally took communion together. It was a real neat time of transparency and unity in Christ. God is so good! Sadly, after church everyone had to head home, ending a wonderful time together. Of course I was able to sit back and watch football all day, so all was not lost :)

God really taught me a lot about the value of good friendship that weekend. I had my share of struggles earlier in the semester but my friends were always there for me. I know that each of my friends had experienced plenty of trials as well and I hope I was always there for them. The weekend that may well be remembered as the Blizzard of 2009 will also be remembered as a celebration of the end of another semester spent with the best friends one could ever ask for!