"And the ¹book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the ¹book and found the place where it was written, 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." 20 And He ^aclosed the ¹book, gave it back to the attendant and ^bsat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ¹hearing." (Luke 4:17-21, NAS

The above passage is the theme for our 2009 student ministry retreat with the SDEA. You can read more about the theme on the Strength to Stand website. We are going to talk this weekend about the believers part in freeing the oppressed and being freed from oppression. We hope that you all are as excited as we are about this weekend.

One quick reminder about an item that you may want to pack for this weekend. With all of the students that will be in the area and in our hotel towels run low very fast. In fact, they make us reuse our towels for the entire weekend. (I'm just sayin'.) So, take care of your towel and do your best to not misuse it too much the first night there. Also remember, we are "leaving" at 5:00 AM for Pigeon Forge, TN this Saturday morning. For our 24/7 fashionable people you need to know that it is totally normal to travel in your pajamas (decent pajamas) since we are leaving so early. You can clean up at the hotel later in the day. So, don't miss the caravan by trying to get ready for a formal event. See you all tonight at Refuge.