Passion 2010

I just got back home after my 3rd wedding over the break. One of my really good friends from my church back home married his girl last night. It was such a sweet wedding and I was so honored to be asked to sing at their wedding. Here's a picture of me with the new Hardy family!

I tried to get a pretty good idea of how many hours I've spent in the car over the break...I believe it's some where around 45! A big chunk of that was a road trip to Atlanta with these fun friends.

We went to Atlanta, Georgia for the Passion 2010 conference. I had heard a little bit about it here and there over the past few years, but didn't really know what to expect. I left extremely encouraged about our generation and the things God is doing to move people closer to Him. With so many disheartening things going on in our generation and society today, I can't explain the overwhelming encouragement it was to see over 21000 college students from so many different denominations and walks of life, set aside those 4 days to come together in unity under the name of Jesus. I found myself looking around during worship getting so excited to the point of tears that that many people were singing Jesus is King- the scripture, "every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" kept ringing in my head. If this was just a glimpse and tiny part of that "every" I can't imagine what that day will be like.

A lot happened in those 4 days. I was talking with a friend that also went about what we learned and the ways Jesus challenged and encouraged us. I told her I feel like the Lord just really opened my eyes even more to the hurt around the world and even in our own cities. Louie Giglio spoke the first night about Lazarus- I have never thought about that passage the way he taught it. His overall point was that we are all a part of a larger story- God's story, and that no matter what He will be made famous and that when we die to ourselves and others see that, He is made more famous. This was the thread that held the whole conference together and was made so clear to me through out those few days.

A huge part of Passion is not only to minister to and help draw students closer to God, but to open their eyes to ways they can help make a difference for the Kingdom. They had an area set up called the "Go Center." There were several different ministries set up in really interactive ways to give you just a glimpse of what's going on in the world. One of the groups that was their was Living Water, which helps dig wells to bring clean drinking water to Africa. Part of their set up was having the students carry a 40 lb jug of water around an 1/8 of a mile. Let's just say I wanted to give up after about 30 seconds...then I found out that that 1/8 of a mile is only 1/30 of what African women have to travel on average to reach the nearest clean water! I cannot imagine having to do that.

I think the ministry that hit me the most was the Not For Sale booth. This group works with stopping sex trafficking across the globe. Here are a few pictures I took of their display...

Each one of those ribbons (and I couldn't even get all of them in the picture) represents 100,000 women and children trapped in trafficking in the world today- there are roughly 27 million currently enslaved. My heart was just aching for these women and children as I listened to first hand stories of women that were brought out of slavery and as I read the insane statistics they had all throughout their display. One of the goals of Passion was to raise $25,000 to set up a border outpost in Napal to help stop trafficking- we raised over $75,000 which is enough to fund not one, but 3 outposts!! Praise Jesus!

As I was walking around looking at all of these displays in the Go Center I was really wishing I had money to give to each of them. As I saw different areas of hurt in the world, I was so burdened for them. I began praying that I would always have a heart that would want to give in excess, rather than live in excess. I have a very blessed life and have honestly never really been in need. That is all because of Jesus and I am so grateful for a dad that has taught me that and loves to give. I got really excited about asking Jesus for opportunities to give in the future (when I actually have a job :) ) and not just financially, but just any way I can. Just after this my friend, Heather, gave to a cause that translates the Bible into different languages. When you give they give you a Bible verse to write on this giant tarp. I was holding it still so she could write on it and right in front of my face was this verse...

If you can't read it, it is 2 Corinthians 9:11: "Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God." How cool is that?!

Just a few more days and I'll be starting my last semester of college. I had some really sweet prayer time during my 5 hour drive from New Braunfels to Beaumont yesterday just asking Jesus to open doors and trusting Him for discernment on decisions that will be coming in my way in the next few months just as He has since I've known Him. Can't wait to be back in College Station!