I Got Nothin

I'm a little discouraged right now. What am I good at? This is so irritating. I don't have any standout talent. I don't excel at anything. Some people are amazing musicians, writers, athletes, dancers, artists...whatever. I'm not a single one of these. I don't desire to "stand out," but I want something to offer. I have nothing to offer!

I can type pretty fast. I've mastered that. But what the heck is typing good for?

I should probably stop complaining. The Lord has given me other things. Like compassion. I'm grateful for that. I really do love people. I love being friendly...and smiling...and laughing. He's given me the gift of laughing-at-everything. I laugh at myself alot. I laugh to myself alot. Aahh, that's a good note to end on.

Passion07

The Passion Conference was nothing like what I expected. I'll have to admit, I wasn't as excited as others in my place would have been. I thought it would be just like camps. Everyone gets all sobby and repentant and "fired" up...knowing (well at least me knowing from experience) that more than half of those fires will reduce to faintly glowing embers before the year is over.

That's not what it was about at all. Louie talked about God's grace. Frances, the state of the church, and the individual's spiritual life. Beth, the Bible. The Pipe, he talked about how kids need to get over the fact they've failed sexually, wrap themselves in God's grace, and get back to what God has called you to do. Here's a quote from his message: "The tragedy is that Satan uses the guilt to strip you of your once radical dreams."

It was so...refreshing. It was a time for Christians to get together and worship. It was a bit of heaven on earth. The last night of worship, 23,000+ gathered in a field in downtown Atlanta to worship the Creator. I thought, "man, I could spend the rest of my life doing this."

Then God said, "How bout the rest of eternity?"

Journal

This is a journal entry from my hotel room in Atlanta during the Passion Conference.

Goodbye '06! Woo! '07 is starting out pretty amazing. I'm in the ATL, "hot-lanta," at Passion07. By the way, it's freezing here. The message last night was so refreshing. The speaker used an illustration that made me look at the cost of Jesus's sacrifice in a new way. He used a flower-and yea, I'll admit it, I totally got attached to that flower. At the end, he cut it in half, and I thought, "No, i can't believe you just did that. Why?"

I'm sure there were people staring in horror at Jesus on the cross, bleeding, unrecognizable, thinking the same exact thing. But we know why. I know. Because intimacy required a sacrifice. God's desire to be known by us transcends the brief but timeless moments of the cross.

The service ended with a song. These are the lyrics:

My chains are gone, I've been set free
My God, my Savior, has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace