how he loves...

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all... 

 

 

i'm leaving on a jet plane...

I'm leaving tomorrow for the annual

trek to Atlanta.  Along with a few other

leaders from my church, I'll be spending 

the next couple of days at Catalyst.

This is the coolest leadership conference 

ever, and is always an incredible time 

of worship, learning, and group building.  

Despite being bummed about some icky 

circumstances, I'm excited to see what God 

has for me this year, and am working very 

hard to go with lots of expectancy 

and an open and teachable heart!

more ponderings...

I'm still processing what we heard at Catalyst, and wanted to share a few more of my notes & thoughts...this time on Rob Bell's message - Is Bigger Better?

He opened with the story of the widow's mite:
- Jesus had to confront some misconceptions during His ministry, and sometimes the crowd thinned when they heard what they had to say. This begs the question, is it okay sometimes when people leave? (worded another way: Is growth always better?)

Then he talked about the idea of eucharist:
- eucharist = "good" + "grace/gift" - a holy, sacred thing
- Jesus is the eucharist, a gift to us from God
- We, the church, are the eucharist to the world around us - broken and poured out in humility to a larger agenda

We looked at Jesus as our example, and then drew some conclusions:
- Jesus only did what the Father did - He didn't bring his own plans to earth.
- When we're doing as the Father does, our actions are more focused and intentional. Even though the task may be difficult, it won't be a burden if it's coming from the Father.
- God longs to give us joy in the task at hand, no matter how important or small that may be. It's not about size, accomplishment or importance - it's about being faithful to the work given to us. When we are anxious about being more, that robs us of the joy God longs to give us.
- When you get to heaven, God won't ask you why you weren't more like Moses - He's going to ask you why you weren't more like yourself.

He closed with a discussion on thinking long term:
- Do we run all the time, or do we take time to rest and feed our own souls? Have you considered taking a Sabbath day - no email, church related phone calls, etc?
- As the people proclaiming a gospel of peace & life, we should be living examples of these principles in our core relationships - otherwise we're inviting people into something that's not real.
- Does your spouse / family get the very best of you, or what's left over? The church can't be doing well if you're family is not well - the two are linked.
- We need a sustainable pace that won't wear us down as time passes - we should enjoy the work more as time goes on, rather than losing passion because we're exhausted.


*image by BriolePhotography via The Pioneer Woman

still pondering...

I've still got so much to process from my trip last week. In the last day or so I've really been thinking about Andy Stanley's first message - On Your Mark - the one that really defined the rest of the conference.

Here are a few tidbits from my notes...
- The desire to leave a mark is God's thumbprint on my life - He created me with a purpose.
- God isn't here to play a part in my story - I'm here to play a part in His story. (Am I willing to use my gifts & talents for a different story than the one I've been writing?)
- In order to allow God to make His mark through me, I need to be a leader under authority rather than a leader in authority. (And I have to make this decision every single day.)
- God takes full responsibility for the life wholly devoted to Him.
- Living to make my mark is too small a thing to give my life to.



*love this photo of me & Twin via Miss Ab...look how happy we are reading in the airport!

incredible.

We're back from Catalyst, and while I'm definitely not caught up on my sleep or feeling back to normal quite yet, I wanted to capture something about the experience before running off to work.


I still have lots to process and don't really know that I can rattle off the spiritual take-aways just yet, but I know that there are a lot of them floating around in my head and heart, and even more waiting in my pages of notes to take root in my heart.

The quality of the material that each speaker brought was just phenomenal - and there's something very cool about hearing people like Andy Stanley, Rob Bell & Chuck Swindoll speak in person. Not to mention that it totally takes it to the next level knowing that they prepared a message just for a leader like me.




There's something about worshiping and learning with thousands of people (13,000 to be exact) that just opens your heart and blows your mind in a unique way. It never ceases to bless me, and makes me anticipate with so much joy what worship will be like in heaven.

(Please note the crazy scale of this event, which is captured in such a insignificant way through a camera. Also note the proximity of my pictures to what's going on, and know that thanks to some very tall people with great scouting abilities, we definitely sat in VIP seating for the entire conference. woot!)



Our travel from Boston to Atlanta was far less than ideal (canceled flight, 8 hours in Logan airport, lots of faxing confusion, missing hotel rooms, etc.) but I was so proud to be traveling with a group of my friends who all behaved with grace and love despite a high level of stress and frustration. It was very cool to know that God could further knit us together as leaders and friends in the middle of inconvenience.

(check out the super cool mirrored wall in Logan, which entertained us for a LONG time...)





I would be so remiss in talking about this trip if I didn't talk about how much fun we had together. There was so much silliness and laughing - no matter where we were - in airports, riding in giant rattling vans, waiting in lines, eating meals, or in the middle of the conference.

There's just nothing like realizing that pretty much everyone shares - at some level - the same lame sense of humor. It's wonderful and terrifying...all at the same time.



So thanks peeps - I'm going to be leaning into this experience for a while.

And I will try to never use the word momentarily again for a long time...

aaaaand off we go!

As of very early this morning, I'm off with a wonderful group of people from my church to Catalyst - a dynamic and amazing leadership conference aimed at us younguns.


It's jam packed with incredible worship, even more incredible speakers, and so much fun.

(It's always a relief to worship and learn while laughing. I'm a big believer in the fact that God has a sense of humor. Hello, bizarre animals like the octopus...)


Last year I learned so much - both on a personal level and as a leader - and I anticipate God working in my heart and life again this year. I can't wait to come back enthused and filled up!



*images via This is Reverb
(who I learned is going to attending too - how coo!)