Lock-in

On Friday night, Wolves CU spent the night in a local church building - the Church on Broad Street, and what a great time we had! Our purpose was for "fun and fellowship", or, in more accessible terms, we played games, chatted, prayed, and thought about God. A fantastic balance.

Overall we spent 18 hours there - arriving at 6 on Friday evening armed with sleeping bags (some of which would be rendered redundant), teabags, nerf guns, and Bibles. The lock-in kicked off with what we could call a service, for want of a better word, led brilliantly by our friends Jake, Nathanael, and Catherine. We sang, listened to God's word, and reflected on what it meant to be truly "free".


The challenge of being "free" is what we make of it. What good is it to be set free from prison, but still hang around in your cell? Equally what good is it to be set free from prison, and spend time being indifferent about it, or moping about. Jesus saved us from certain death - celebrate! Where Christians gather there should always be smiles and laughter.

God certainly spoke to people through this time of listening to him - proved by chats with each other, tears, smiles, dances, and the fact that the pizza we'd ordered sat there for at least 45 minutes before we actually got around to eating it!

Through the rest of the night we further bonded friendships which are becoming more and more precious with every week. We played ridiculously childish games, ate sweets, and acted half our age. We then slept for about 3 hours each. The morning after, we sleepily slumped into sofas and chatted about things going on at the time which need prayer - spending more time chatting to God, and ear-bashing him with our requests. 


It struck me that not only was our lock-in great for fun and fellowship purposes, but it was practice for heaven! If heaven is anything like that, then I'm sure that will help us all get excited about what we've been freed for. Roll on the next lock-in!