La Vida Meets CFC

When I was on my La Vida trip, 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10 became my mantra. Paul shared his weaknesses and sufferings and how through them, God's power was made perfect. Huddling under a tarp in the pouring rain on your own when you badly have to go to the bathroom (as a result of drinking two Nalgenes a day) showcased my weaknesses. I realized that for the first time, I was completely alone and had to fend for myself, and that terrified me. I just cried for about an hour as I sat underneath that tarp, holding up the part that was sagging from all the rain. It was nearing bedtime. Would I have to do this all night in the dark?! Realizing that my sherpas, Brian and Sheralynn, were not there to help me was staggering. How in the world could I do this? But I did it.
I don't think I would have been able to do it had it not been for the reminder of the passage I had read earlier that morning from 2 Corinthians: "for when I am weak, then I am strong." At the time I had read it, I thought it fit my situation at La Vida perfectly: I had canoed for 40 miles, carried a canoe on my back, been eaten alive by mosquitoes...I had surprised myself day after day with how strong I apparently was. It wasn't until that final test--my solo time, in the rain--that I truly realized how strong I was.
Today was the first day I went to church since the Sunday before La Vida. (When I got back from La Vida, it was almost midnight on Saturday, so I was too tired to go to church the next morning. Then the week after that I spent a few days at my grandparents' house.) And here's what amazes me: The sermon Sonny preached about was on...wait for it...2 Corinthians 11 and 12. Did you just get chills? I definitely did when I heard him say, "Let's turn in our Bibles to..."
I'm leaving for Gordon College on Friday (AHH!!). The fact that this was the sermon during my first time back at church since La Vida and the last sermon I'll hear from Christian Fellowship Church for a while is something I can't put into words. God always gives us what we need to hear.