Speechless...
I keep thinking that I need to blog about the conference, but I don't even know what to say... I think I'm still in too much of a whirlwind over it all.
One thing, though: I've never been to any sort of conference before, at all... I've never heard any Christian speakers, other than normal pastors giving normal sunday morning messages... So my first conference was Hillsong '04... and the first speakers I ever heard were Joyce Meyer, Jentezen Franklin, Paul Scanlan, Tim Hughes, etc etc...
So yeah... I think I'm ruined. Forever ruined for anything else that comes along. I got the best of the best FIRST. WOW... I'm just so in awe. What really floored me the most was probably the fact that every single solitary message I heard, from Sunday morning at Hillsong, to Sunday night at Hillsong, to Sunday night at the little church in Paramatta, all the way through, straight to the end.... every single one of them spoke powerfully and directly at me and situations in my life... It was almost scary.
That told me two things... First that God has a lot to say to me, that He's aware of my struggles and is guiding me through them. Sometimes He can seem so far away, you know? But He was reminding me that He's not... And the other thing it told me was that my struggles are not unique unto myself. I think the local church as a whole and individually is going through some new and powerful struggles. There's a reason God is revealing this to me...
Ok. It's time to head home. I'm at dad's right now, just got done with music practice. It went pretty well, if I do say so myself. Oh, and be praying for us, if you think about it. One of the "tri-leaders" (myself, the keys player, and the lead guitarist--we share the authority in the worship team) is taking 3 months off, at the advisement of the pastor. With him, he takes the youth leader / back-up vocalist. So I just lost my keys, and two vocalists... That leaves me with one real vocalist, one kinda vocalist/lead guitar, drums, rythm guitar, and bass... That's it. We just found out tonight. So... God is moving in mysterious ways again. I'm actually excited though. It's evidence of His plan. LOVE IT.
And hey... pray without ceasing. Try it. Seriously. It's awesome. Just be in "constant radio contact" with God. Just plug in. :-)
-Jack-
