At The Cross

While Jan was fulfilling her altar ministry commitments last night at Ichthus, I had some quality alone time to people watch and reflect on the speakers and artists. I won't mention the name of the speaker because what I'm about to say isn't very positive. I felt like the speaker spent more time talking about how HE had impacted people, and not how GOD had impacted people THROUGH him. Yes, God's power was mentioned and it's awesome how God has used this person to reach people, but he came off as slighty self-centered to me. However, at the end of his talk, he had people stand who were in need of prayer. People around them stood in solidarity with them and put their hands on their shoulders as a reminder that God has not forgotten us. Off to my left was a group of middle school girls standing in a circle, arms around each other, praying. It struck me and brought tears to my eyes- that is such a powerful image and I sincerely hope that they realize what a precious gift moments like that are. For some reason it reminded me of my senior year of high school. My senior year pretty much stunk because of things going on in my life at the time, but God's grace was so obviously present. When I got accepted into Gordon College right before Christmas of '00 (early decision; the only school I even applied to), my mom and I took a trip over to our church. I sat in the dark sanctuary at the foot of the cross with tears streaming down my face. God was so faithful and that was very real to me in that moment. My acceptance was the light at the end of the tunnel; it was God's redemption of my whole 4 years of high school. HIgh school doesn't bring back too many happy memories for me....

On a side note, I was more impressed with BarlowGirl's worship leading than the speaker. Talk about 3 women with such a voice for the Lord, especially at Ichthus where it is clear that a word of purity needs to be spoken to the females of my generation and the next. Btw, I got to meet the Barlow girls and get my picture taken with them=)

God is faithful and God is a God of grace and mercy. He is MORE than enough for me.

In His Mercy.