Camps, Christmas, and Calhoun's: Divine Rhythm 2018

It was Friday, January 26th, and I was in a panic.

It was a sunny but cool afternoon, and as I do on most nice days, I opened up one of my windows to let some of the breeze circulate in my room. Every other time, there had been no problems with doing this, but naturally this time I ran into difficulties.

West Hall is fairly old and my window is a great demonstration of that. From the beginning of the semester I could tell that it wasn't exactly in perfect condition, but that didn't prohibit me from making use of it. In this instance, I opened the window but could not get it to pull shut.

My bags for the weekend retreat with the ETSU Wesley Foundation were stacked beside my raised bed. I kept glancing at my phone, at the baggage, then back at the window. Would I just have to leave it open the whole weekend? What if it rains? What if bugs fly in? Thankfully, after minutes of fidgeting, I figured out that one of the structures on the left side had fallen down when it should have been supporting the window as it was suspended in the air. (I really don't know how to describe it.) I got it closed, and like clockwork Hallie texted me she was outside waiting for me. I draped my pink and purple duffel bag over my arm, had camera bag at my side, and a blue drawstring bag on my back. After questioning if I had everything, I sprinted down the staircase enthusiastically excited for what the weekend could hold.

(To give a brief summary of what was happening: it was the weekend of Divine Rhythm, a young adult conference in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. All 15 or so ETSU Wesley Foundation members stayed in a beautiful cabin called Bear Den's Lodge not too far from where the conference was being held at.)

I opened the car door and was greeted by Erika in the passenger seat and Hallie driving. Erika was a former ETSU student who was a part of Wesley, and one of Hallie's past roommates. I met her last year when I came to visit the school before making a decision on where I was going to go. She drove down to spend the weekend with us! Afterwards, our next stop was to pick up the last person we needed to fill the car-- Sephora. Isn't that a cool name? She's a freshman, too, and she lives a little off campus. The address she gave us led to a few wrong turns, but eventually we found her apartment. Next stop, Gatlinburg! Maybe. Well, not yet. We made a McDonald's run before that. I split a 20 nuggets with Erika, got some fries, and of course a Dr. Pepper.

The approximately two hour car ride consisted of jamming to Hallie's "Fun Times" playlist ranging from George Ezra, to Bruno Mars, to John Denver. I got to know Sephora a lot more, because our only interactions before then were brief exchanges of greetings sometimes on Tuesday nights. As we drove through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, it invoked a sense of nostalgia within me. I recalled all the times I rode down these sames streets with my mom, dad, brothers, and sisters. We visited the area often since it was an easy, short distance vacation spot. All good memories.

We got to the cabin around 6:00. Almost everyone was already there, so we unloaded our belongings and went inside. And man, I was NOT expecting what I was about to see. The girls had the second floor, and the guys had the first. Upstairs there were five sleeping rooms, all of which had anywhere from one to four beds in them. I snatched a bunk bed that didn't have anyone it. And not just any bunk bed, it was at least double the size of my bed in my dorm. There was so much space! And in the middle of all these rooms was an area that had a pool table, air hockey table, TV, couches, and a door to the balcony overlooking the other cabins. I don't think I had ever experienced such luxury before. Below was my view from my room.

We departed and headed to Mills Auditorium for the first session of the conference. From the cabin it was about a fifteen minute journey. Gatlinburg is so different at night, it's like another dimension. Every building shimmering, glowing, or illuminated in some shape or form under the dark sky. I swear it's forever Christmas there, too. Around every corner there were still lights, trees, and wreaths up. I kind of love it. Our group parked at this Lutheran church within walking distance of Divine Rhythm. Once inside, we weren't sure of what direction to turn. Another event was going on simultaneously in the building, and we saw crowds of people streaming in to go to that. It threw us off a bit. We possible dismissed a stanchion or two and accidentally ended up where we meant to be. Our leader, John, gave us multicolored wristbands to don all weekend. The doors to the auditorium weren't open yet; in the meantime I was bombarded by adults asking me to work at Holston conference camps over the summer.

One of the first tasks we were introduced to as we finally were allowed to go in the auditorium was to write a fear on a rock. There was a table as you entered, covered in incredibly white rocks. I took the rock with me to the third row where I met up with the rest of the crew. An observation I had early on was that this was much smaller than Warmth in Winter; the room could probably only hold 500 or less people. (I'm not good at estimations, I could be wrong.) I sat between Callie and Maggie closer to the edge of the row. Elias Dummer, former member of City Harmonic, opened up the night performing "Manifesto". This song alone was enough to take me back to almost 365 days from that date at Warmth in Winter. It was ironic that City Harmonic headlined that conference, too. I was a senior in high school at that point, with no clue where I was being called to go to college. Now, I was here entering my second semester at ETSU, with the Wesley at a conference seeing this same guy sing the same song. I took that as a sign I made the right choice.

He played some new, unreleased music as well. The largest disappointment was the fact the audience did not get into worship as much as they did at WnW. No one rushed to the front of the stage during the first three seconds of the first song. The guest speaker was Olu Brown, who had me fascinated from the start just based on his name. His first mini-sermon was about courage. What stuck out to me was he mentioned be transformed from the inside out. He utilized the "fear rocks" by asking us to leave our fears at the altar (or table in this case). I placed my rock as instructed, and prayed for a minute at the front. I vividly remember spotting a younger woman beside the stage, hands raised, immersed in the moment. It made my heart happy. I was also fascinated by the ASL interpreter on the other side of the stage. Sometimes I would watch her sign rather than watch Olu.

Session 1 concluded and we all walked to our vehicles and drove back to the cabin. Penny arrived later with donuts! I grabbed a chocolate one with sprinkles. We gathered around the wooden table and debriefed the topics of the night and discussed what we thought. Briefly, it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. The late night finished with the hand game, a game where your left arm is placed underneath the person to your left's arm, and your right is placed over the person to your right's arm. One person taps the table, and the tap travels around the table from hand to hand. If you double tap, the motion of the tap goes the opposite direction. If you flinch or tap when you aren't supposed to, that arm is out. It's Hallie's new favorite game and that became the running joke of the whole trip.

Day 2: Saturday, January 27th

I set an alarm for 7:30 a.m. to watch the sunrise, but that didn't happen. I rolled over to look out the window and noticed that it was cloudy and slept in a few extra minutes since we had to be up before 8 anyway. Breakfast consisted of bacon, pancakes, and cereal. We left for the convention center not too long after breakfast and Hallie's phone ends up rerouting us another direction; Sephora, Hallie, Erika, and I all walked in right as worship started. After that session, we had the rest of the afternoon until late that night to do whatever we wanted. They did ask us to give back to the community of Gatlinburg through leaving generous tips and getting to know your server rather than taking up an offering. I thought this was a brilliant idea.

The only store we stopped at as we walked down the strip in Gatlinburg was NOC. It's this huge outdoorsy store with a rock climbing wall in its center and a rope bridge to get from one side to another on the second level. Amy and Erika climbed the rock wall a couple times and we left, but not without getting some free stickers. There was debate on where to eat lunch, yet the ultimate decision was Calhoun's. They fit our huge party in one area, so we could all sit together. I ordered chicken tenders with a side of mac and cheese in addition to fries. I underestimated how much food that was. They gave me at least nine pieces of chicken! If you know me, I normally can't even finish three pieces of chicken, let alone nine. Our waitress was named Hannah. Also, wherever you are Hannah, I hope those tips helped you! Hallie quickly made a detour to the "Goats on the Roof"' store. We saw two goats, one who was named Snowball.

The hours preceding the next late night session were pretty relaxed. Naps were taken, the hot tub was put to use, card games were played, home was worked on. I just sort of floated around chatting with everyone, and somehow ended up playing "Phase 10".  I wasn't really into it, so after phase 2 of the game I gave up, but I still kept playing. I didn't have any better way to spend my time. Plus, I really enjoyed the company of these people! Dinner rolled around the corner, and we ate some chili.

Worship and what Olu preached essentially felt the same as the night before with some deviation. We were given cloth to write our hopes on and placed the cloth on top of the "fear rocks", because our hopes conquer our fears. This made me think of the quote from The Hunger Games where it talks about how hope is the only thing stronger than fear. The blinding stage lights during the bridge of "Holy" instantly brought my soul back to WnW once again. You're probably sensing a pattern. Sorry, I'm an emotional person. Another flashback moment was when we sang the doxology at the end of a song. Most of my memories of the doxology are associated with a younger me standing beside my mother in the sanctuary, standing on a pew to see the words over everyone else. I could feel tears almost starting to well up.

Hallie stopped to get washer fluid; we also stopped to pet a dog! We debriefed again at the cabin and did our own worship. In the rest of night's free time I dazed off to sleep with the sound of laughter and the clatter of balls on the pool table hitting against one another in endless rounds of the game.

Day 3: Sunday, January 28th

It drizzled, it poured, it did everything in between.
I actually had to wake up at 7:30, no sleeping in this time. I packed my things the night prior knowing I'd have no motivation in the morning. Breakfast for me was just an off-brand Lucky Charms cereal. We loaded up the car slowly and zoomed off to the convention center one last time. It was like second nature getting there now. The final session included communion, an invitation for those called to ministry and finally getting a picture with Elias. I tried to take a selfie with him on Sunday but it ended up not working somehow. A few split off from the group and headed back to JC, but the majority of us ate at Firehouse Subs. The road trip's final stop was Sam's Club, and then it was over.

Just like that.

That night, I missed the comfort of the double-sized bed and the seemingly never-ending laughter that rang through my ears. I missed being shoulder to shoulder, slightly uncomfortable, and standing on the tip of my toes to compose a shot of the subject on stage. I missed the lights and tourist traps of Gatlinburg.

As most good things, they end even when you beg for them not to. The harsh reality of college hit me as I woke up for class today. It was so comforting to feel closer to the group of people I had spent most of my first semester with. I mean, I knew them before the trip, but this really made me feel a connection, you know? I don't know. It made me even more excited for the mission trip this summer. Definitely still have that mountaintop feeling.

It wasn't like Warmth in Winter, but that's okay. I still loved this weekend for what it was. And I am blessed to be where I am with who I am today.

Love always,
Allison