Productive

I was productive today.  I was.  I am not being right now.  I have one more verse of my Greek to do and I can't find the motivation.  Bummer.  But, I digress.  Anyway, I went to class, I ran, I got my driver's license renewed, ordered a new debit card, pick up some necessities at the DG (like TP), went to play practice, ate and did Greek, played basketball, Collided it up, had some McD's, and now I sit here soaking it all in.  I like being busy and feeling accomplished, but I have really been fighting a lazy spirit lately.  And when I am lazy.....I sin.  It's just how it works.  It really is.  So, I am going to learn to have productive days all the time.  It has to happen.

In other news, I love people.  I really do.  I don't think I do sometimes, but I do.  A lot.  There are some great people here in this cornfield or rice, or whatever the heck it is and I love them even the ones I don't really know.  Today, I kind of like the human race.  We will see how I feel tomorrow.

That was boring, yet I think beneficial.  Ok 1 Thess. 2:16 I must parse you, translate you, and thus own you.  Nobody ever said that I wasn't a nerd.

Today

I can't really explain the mood or feeling I have been in the past couple of weeks.  I really am at a weird place.  I have described it as a cross roads, or a limbo type feeling.  I have thirteen weeks left of my college career as of today.  That is a lot of time.  It isn't a lot of time in the same regard.  I am moving on, I don't know where for sure yet (if the nice people from the seminary I applied to would like to send me a letter back, that'd be great), but nevertheless my life is going to be different.  My life looks so different than the people I am closest to all around me.  You might say it should and I would agree.  We are all different and God has a specific and different plan for each one of our lives.  Most of my close friends are either married, engaged, or will be engaged soon.  Most of them in fact are staying in Walnut Ridge, whether they are getting married, staying for a job, or aren't graduating yet.  When people try and convince me I should stay, I'll admit the thought is tempting.  I love these people.  My friends from school are class A, I have a great church family, and I don't use that word family lightly - they are just that.  I love my job.  I want to be a children's minister when I grow up and that is exactly what I am doing right now.  I know though, God has another plan (as far as I can tell).  I have more to learn and to experience elsewhere.  I am trying to have faith, which has been a struggle lately.  I am trying to - well, if I were completely honest I am not trying as hard as I could be.  This last semester is easy and so I am bridging on being just plain lazy.  I hate it.  My prayer has been that God would change me and prepare me for the next chapter in my life.  I have to look to his word and talk to him to allow him to do that.  I am really looking forward to camp this summer.  That is why I would hurry this semester along, but I somehow think I believe I will come right back to Williams Baptist College and start another year.  That is not going to happen.  It is going to be new and unexpected.  And frankly I am beyond excited, and still a little nervous.  I am a walking paradox.  Pray for me.

2 Days Later

So, I have been back "home" (home is a relative term when you are an almost 22 year old college student, you see I am at my temporary home, The Anderson's, in Walnut Ridge so I can go to church and stuff while the dorm is closed not my actual home I was reared in and stuff, but I digress) for two days and I really cannot stop thinking about what I learned and what I experienced at Passion.  It was my prayer the entire week not to let the fire burn out when I got home, and though I neglected by YouVersion reading plan until 3:30 this morning (and I learned the current plan gives you free reign on weekends so I am kind of happy about that) I am excited to see what God is going to do and I am racking my brain with how things can be done now.  How do I a last semester senior in college living in Walnut Ridge, AR begin to free 27 million slaves.  I don't know but I do know that I am not going to sit on my butt and just let something that seemingly doesn't effect me, that is actually a malicious injustice rage on in the world.

There is this thing called school that starts back Tuesday.  And this was really the last day I got to sleep in and I did pretty hardcore.  Like 11:30ish don't tell my mom.  That is the best thing about the Anderson house weekend means weekend and this is Will approved. School is going be easier this semester (or so I pray).  I don't know I am kind of ambivalent toward the whole last semester of college thing.  Mostly, I don't even think about it.  I mean I really don't want to think about not having the best people in the world to share life with on a daily basis, or leaving the church I have grown to love with basically the best kids and parents on the planet.  It is not that I don't want to go to grad school I do I just wish they would tell me if I got in and all that wonderful stuff.

I am looking forward to this summer like nobodies business.  I am not really thinking about what I have to leave behind for the sake of camp, but sometimes that happens when you feel calling toward something.  I cannot express words that describe how pumped I am about it.  The last time I worked camp I was nervous and didn't know what to expect now I am just ready to jump in and share Jesus with some kids (not that I don't have the opportunity to that all the time anyway).  Bascially, I am more excited about camp than I am about graduation, but I have been assured by a certified camp professional this is "totes normal."

So, I guess on my list this semester is building relationships, spreading the gospel, figuring out how to not be fat anymore, not falling asleep in Art Appreciation, helping to end slavery, motivating myself to wake up at 7:00 in the morning, not being a horrible friend, eating good food, and trying not to cry too much.  Hard life, let me tell you.

Passion 2012

I just got back from literally one of the most amazing and life changing experiences of my life.  I wanted to share what I learned and decided that the most effective way to do that would be to simply pull quotes from my notes for each speaker and just give a glimpse of the awesome teaching from the word of God.  If you don't already know this God is working in this generation of college students and we are going to change the world.  I am and a lot of you are not just going to be a part of the change you are part of the change right now in this very moment.  Freedom begins now.

Louie Giglio Night 1:
Speaking on Luke 7:11-17
- "Jesus wants our lives to be interrupted at this very moment."
- "Jesus wasn't worried about what he was supposed to do, he knows what he came to do."
- "In its core the Gospel is raising people from the dead."
- "What the law is powerless to do, what religious leaders wouldn't do...Jesus does and so can we."
- "This story doesn't end with the son being alive, it ends with the story of Jesus being spread across the country."
- "The Gospel is about who you are trusting in your life right now, not a decision you made when you were nine or ten."

Beth Moore Morning Session Day 2:
Speaking on Luke 8:43-48
- "Sometimes we think an infinite God has a finite attention span."
- "You are incapable of being unnoticed and ignored by God."
- "The story looses its power if it looses its discomfort."
- "Our greatest need for healing is somewhere so private, we hide the area that needs the most healing."
- "We are afraid of what these secrets will do to us socially."
- "We are called to be clean in an unclean world."
- "Instead of the woman with the issue of blood making him unclean, he made her clean. He came so he could be touchable, not just reachable."
- "As long as you feel unclean, you aren't going to let Jesus do anything. If you hang your head toward him, your hear will not be free."
- There is a cycle of defeat, believing I am the old broken person, being brought back to the pit. Awareness is important, because defeat happens when we forget.
- "We can never explain the complexities of Jesus, because something that can be explained can be mastered."
- "To say that we've been healed is to say we've been unclean.... Your faith has made you well.... Grab on for dear life and be made whole."

Christine Cain Day 2 Second Session:
- "As you sent me, I sent them." - Jesus
- "If you take away a name and make a statistic, it is easy not to think that a number has a name."
- "Jesus interrupts mundane moments to speak and change our lives."
- "The only thing Jesus went to the cross for was people."
- "Compassion is never compassion unless you cross the street and do something now."
- "The Levite and the Priest (in the story of the Good Samaritan) weren't bad people, they were busy people. They missed the object of their ministry."
- "Compassion isn't compassion until you are willing to be interrupted."
- "We who have been rescued have a responsibility to rescue others."
- "One million is just a statistic until you meet one person."
- "What is so important in our temporal world that would take us away from the eternal?"
- "Light works most effectively in the darkness."

Francis Chan Day 2 Night Session:
- "We are allowed to read the Word, there is power in that!"
- "Pay attention to people's doctrines, but also look at their lives."
- "Be careful of your own heart, because we fight for our own desires while reading scripture.  We aren't fighting for truth, we are justifying what we want."
"The solution to human trafficking is making disciples."

Panel Discussion Day 3:
Isaiah 58:6
- Prevention - Intervention - Restoration - Education
- "If we don't talk about demand (in response to slavery) there will continue to be a need for a supply."
- Enthusiasm does not equal accomplishment

John Piper Day 3 Night Session:
- "Do everything to make him look great."
- "All human beings are created to put God's infinite value on display."
- "Seeing and savoring the supremacy of Jesus Christ frees you from the slavery of sin."
- "God didn't create the world to be glorified invisibly."
- "Fruit glorifies privately, works glorify publicly."
- "Receiving and believing Jesus are the same."
- "Freedom is being so involved with Christ you do exactly what you want to do exactly what you want to do and it accords with his will."
- " Big hearts give little lust lusts little power. Little hearts give little lusts big power."
I did agree with a lot of what Piper said, but I did think he needed to clarify his points just a little further.

Last Session Louie Giglio:
- "You are in a system that is setting you up for a not yet arrived at generation."
- "Your person and mission in life begins the day Christ takes hold of your life."
- "Brokenness is the bow from which God launches the arrows of freedom."
- "God's not concerned about what you are doing, He said whatever your doing do it for Jesus."
- "Boldly doesn't all the time mean loudly."

This conference was seriously one of the best experiences of my life.  I loved it and I hope someone, anyone can gain something from my notes.