the theme this weekend was "STAND". to stand against culture. to stand on the love that the Lord has for us. and to stand when no one else will.
this particular weekend was odd. i was expecting to simply sit and relax and listen to someone else's perspective and be poured into during small group sessions. we only wanted our college students from church to help out and co-teach, but that's not what the Lord had for me. the guy that was supposed to lead out with my group of boys had something come up and coudnt come. so i was told friday morning (the day of DNOW) that i would be leading. gerald told me that he knew that i wasnt really prepared, but he told me to "do what you do."
so my friday began early. usually i try and sleep in on fridays because i dont have to work. i had planned out my whole day until i had to be at my host home (gerald's house) at 5. well gerald called me at 9 asking me if i could go with him to pick up the rental vans because he couldnt find anyone else to go with him. i of course said yes because i love helping out where i can, but little did i know that this meant that i wouldnt stop moving and working for DNOW until 5:15. i was quite lucky though. after we picked up the vans we drove to the airport to pick up kari jobe. yeah, you read right. i got to help pick her and her band up and take them to lunch. it was great getting to know them. they are such genuine people. that was the start of great blessing to follow.
after we did all that stuff and got the band on to their sound check, i left to go and pack. i arrived at g's house and took a 15 minute break until the kids arrived. i got to hang out with the JV Basketball team (composed of 8th and 9th graders) and be their small group leader for the moments that they were there. we headed to worship around 6:30 and we were all blown away by the freedom we had in the Lord to worship there. ben pirtle, our speaker, shared with us how often times as people we get caught up in the culture around us, and give in to what culture says and not what God says. the passage of scripture he discussed was Daniel 3 (which if you didnt know, that has been my heart the last couple of weeks). we went back to G's house discussed a few things and then they all left. they had to leave because their coach didnt want them staying up all night and not be prepared for the game in the morning. after everyone was gone, i went over to the other jr. high boys house to hang out with them until i got to see my guys again. the rooks, the host home family, welcomed me with open arms. i felt like they had known me for a long time, and truthfully, i felt the same way. i sat down with mr. joe that night and began to talk with him. it felt so natural. so comforting. so right. he asked me later if i like coffee and if i wanted to join him in the morning around 6 to drink coffee and chat. i, without hesitation, accepted the offer. at that moment i knew that the Lord had presented me with the opportunity to be a part of something that i love. discipleship. i have never had a spiritual mentor before. i have had people i look up to spiritually, but i have never had someone want to spend time with me, one on one, and invest in me on a regular basis. so good.
i arrived there just in time to start their small group time. it was interesting to say the least. they were all crazy. my favorite quote from the the night was when caleb, their small group leader, asked "So, what did Ben discuss tonight? That we shouldnt obey who?" we got some blank stares. mr joe interjected with the staement, "It starts with a 'C'...." after a few seconds one of the boys stands up and shouts, "GOD!!!" needless-to-say, the answer was culture, but the fact that he had so much confidence and joy in his answer, it reciprocated and spoke so much joy and confidence to me. after having small group with them and getting to hang out for a few more hours, i finally went to bed at 3am. (now like i said, my day started at 6am for coffee with mr. joe the next morning, and if you count that up and thats only 3 hours of sleep [just wait, it gets better]). we all get moving and head to worship that morning. once again it was so good. we really discussed the sin that weighs us down, the redemption and life we find only in Jesus, and the freedom we now have from being set free from slavery.
we headed to the church for some lunch and games. it went well. it was that point where everyone was showing their tiredness and had not yet gotten that second wind. the Lord really pressed on my spirit during this time though. a friend of mine, luke campbell, asked me to sit down with him and sing. so i did. he played some songs and i sang with him. we swapped singing melody and harmony, and it was just right. it was free. the Lord really laid something on me. i used to help lead worship occasionally when i was in college. and i miss it. so i have decided that i will be bringing a guitar back to school with me to learn how to play. i dont know where this will go, but i trust the Lord.
after we left the church, i headed up to the basketball game to pray over the boys before they played. i know it didnt seem like anything to them, but i felt like they needed to know that i was their to support them (even though i wasnt staying), i cared about them, and that i was praying for them. simple, i know. but it was an act of obedience. to Love people.
i left and went back to the rooks to get ready for worship that night. little did i know that i was getting ready to be completely blown out of the water.
**disclaimer: what you are about to read will never sum up to what actually happened. no human words can describe what the Lord did. but i will attempt to make something of it.
worship began as normal. but it had that feel that the Lord was going to do something amazing. the freedom in worship this night was something that i had really never experienced before. kari has such an amazing gift for singing, but she also has a very sensitive heart as well. while she was singing, she stopped in the middle of one of her songs, and told us that she felt the Lord was speaking to some kids hearts and asked them to come forward if they were ready to follow Christ. wow. that was a big step of obedience. and hand fulls of kids came down to the alter to pray. to either accept Christ for the first time, or say they were tired of a life not lived as it was supposed to. we sang a few more songs and then ben gets on stage. he told kari not to leave. he said that sometimes the Lord moves so much sometimes, that he needs to step out of the way and let God work. honestly, he said that he could never say what the Lord wanted to say, so he let HIM speak. he didnt preach a sermon as planned, he just reminded us all of the Love that God has for us. and because of that Love, we can be healed. we can be restored. we can STAND. and thats what happened. girls came to the alter to pray with the women leaders of the weekend. boys came down to pray with the men to stand against foolishness and become men of God. i got to pray for boys i didnt know, and rejoice with the work the Lord had done (and it was interesting to see all this take place because you would think that in a setting like this that every child would respond--but they didnt. only a few did. thats how i knew in my heart that it was all genuine). so we continue to worship for the next 3 or so hours. yeah it was awesome! i was jumping around and shouting and i actually think i hit someone in the face with my arms cause i was all over the place. but i wasnt the only one. the spirit moved, and His people responded. at the end i leaned over to one of my boys, addison, and i asked him if he had ever experienced anything like this before, and with a huge smiling face he looked up at me and said, "Never." the Lord grabbed his heart that night for sure!
so we leave and i head back to gerald's house because the boys were back from basketball. i walk in and the first question i get asked was, "what happened?" and the only reason they asked that was because they knew by my face that something had happened. so i attempted to explain to them the same things that i just wrote here. it was such a sweet time with the Lord and them. because even though they didnt get to go, they were still blessed from just hearing about all the Lord had done.
after all this we hung out and caused problems until 3am. yeah, once again i only received a few hours of sleep because i awoke at 7 the next morning. fun times. but we all got moving and headed to church. on the way there we see two guys walking down the road, and one of my boys asked me to stop and invite them to church. so i did. and sure enough, one of them came. that was such a testament to the Lord's faithfulness. i acted in faith, and the Lord blessed. i didnt get to catch up with that man later because he was quickly gone, but i do know that he couldnt have left without being changed.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, "However, as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived'--the things God has prepared for those who love him--these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." (NIV)
God did some incredible things this weekend. and my Spirit tells me that God isnt finished with the youth and adults in the jackson, mississippi area. He has great things in store for those that love Him. all we have to do is act in obedience and, of course, love.
do you believe that?
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