Day 2

Surprised myself by being the first one up in my room (I'd gone to bed the latest too... weird!). Was even more surprised when I didn't have a single muscle ache. Morning prayers was at 7.10 and it was only after that, at breakfast, that I got to really have a good look at the people at the retreat.

I can't tell you how good it felt to see that David and I weren't the only "below 20s" there as we're accustomed to on retreats like this. There were two primary school kids, 3 school leavers (my age) and 4 in their early 20s. A huge amount, compared to what we're used to :)

We started the first two sessions of the daywith a profile of the Younger Son (the title character). Now, the Prodigal Son is arguably the most well known of all the parables of Jesus and so it was a real revelation of the level of my knowledge when I filled at least 4 pages of my notebook with insights that I'd never thought of in all my years of knowing the story!

But what really hit like the proverbial ton of bricks was when the speaker (Dr. Jeffrey Goh.. he's got a PhD in theology!) asked us to describe the Younger Son, upon which the usual adjectives were thrown about "arrogant.. stubborn.. irresponsible.. disrespectful.. ungrateful.." - only to have him say, "Boy are you good at describing yourselves!"

Ouch! It hurt, but it was true, true, TRUE! Replace the old father with God, and the boy with ourselves and poof! You get a story that is playing out in real life, right now, with exactly the same attitudes thrown in the mix. Who says Bible stories are outdated?

The afternoon saw Archbishop John Ha speak on the Elder Son (the guy who was pissed that his father threw a party for his wayward brother instead of, say, grounding him... at the very least). Once again, the down to earth descriptions of this character became painful to listen to - mainly because I could see myself in both the boys.. and it really wasn't a pretty picture.

All in all, it was a day for some real soul-searching and it wasn't easy. By the time night came, I was exhausted... more in my mind than physically. There were confessions, but in the state of mind I was in, I doubt I would have gone if it hadn't been for two really good friends (Mark and Patrick).

I say really good not because I know them awfully well, but because they are the kind of Christian friends that are beyond difficult to find... The kind that encourage you, and you know for certain that their hearts are in the right place.