Nathan Neighbors
Follower of Christ, Husband, Father, & Youth Pastor
I can’t believe that it’s already only a few minutes before Wednesday. It seems like I was just in Edisto on the beach. But, another week is coming and going. Spring is in full swing and life is as hectic as always. Life for the Neighbors is great – but busy. Ashley and I spent last week with our students in Edisto on Spring Retreat while the boys spent some fun time with Granna and Pop. This coming weekend I’m headed to Atlanta with some of our college students to the Passion Regional Worship Event – I’m psyched about it. The David Crowder Band is going to be great!
In the busyness of life one of the ways I relax and de-stress is to do more work (believe it or not). I do yard work. Yea, this allergy ridden – once lazy boy loves to do hard labor these days. Last week after returning from Edisto I spent a couple of days spreading a large truck loud (14 bobcat scoops) of mulch around our yard and planting about 20 plants. The yard is looking great – but more than that I had a great time alone spending time with God, getting my hands dirty, and away from the stress of the day.
The weather held out for us today and we had an amazing day on the beach. Most of us had a great time in the water too. Tonight we finished our final Bible study for the week and then we had the closing service on the beach by tiki torch light. The service almost got rained out – but then the clouds cleared and it was a great night as our students committed to lives of purity. We will be heading home tomorrow and hopefully be home around 3pm-4pm. See you all when we get back.
By the way, thanks to Dr Kirk for coming to lead our closing service. Thanks also to all of our chaperons (Andy, Steve, Mark, Ruth Ann, Ashley, Sherry, LeAnn, Paul, and Wayne) for all you’ve done to make this a great retreat. Thanks also to the Littlejohns for providing one of our three beach houses at Edisto Beach. Thanks to Jan, Linda, Kathy, and Kelli for helping get our materials together. Finally, thanks to all of our prayer partners out there who prayed for our students and chaperons.
Yesterday was our second day at Edisto Beach. We decided to switch our schedule around because of weather. It was cooler and overcast yesterday so we spent the day in the Charleston Market and at the Aquarium. We also took the students to the Mall (always a crowd favorite). We switched days hoping to give the students their best chance for some good beach weather today (Tuesday) and I think we made the right decision because the high today will be 75. Yesterday we did Bible studies on guarding our heart and making sure what comes out of our mouths is also pure. Today we will wrap up our series with two Bible studies on making the decision to live sexually pure lives. We will also give the students opportunities to commit to a lifetime of purity including sexual abstinence until marriage. Tonight, our pastor, Dr. Neely will join us to perform a True Love Waits Commitment Ceremony on the beach where the students will receive rings to symbolize their commitment to purity. Pray for our students today as they make this very important commitment.
Nathan Neighbors 