The “event” has changed me. I was blessed to be able to spend Monday-Thursday at Passion this week. I’m still “recovering” by catching up on sleep but I never want to recover from what I have learned, seen, and been a part of.
I’ve tried to think of how to write this post, but I really just don’t know how.
How can I write how it felt to be in a stadium with 44,000 18-25 year olds praising and worshipping Jesus? How do I tell you what the speakers said and how it impacted me? Is there a way to share how the music, the words, shook me to my core – made me throw up my white flag and surrender to God after years and years of saying…
God, surely someone could do it better than me
Maybe I’ve misunderstood
I don’t know what to do. I’ll just wait.
What will people think of me? They’ll judge. This can’t be meant for me.
I’ll likely fail.
Well. I’ve waited long enough. Failing by my standards, by the words standards, is to start something and not complete it or be made fun of/looked down on. Failure by Gods standards is to not obey by not beginning. Maybe He wins in the failure after I start if it draws me closer to Him.
So. Deep breath.
That whole pornography thing? It’s time for me to speak up and make a difference. I don’t know where to begin and I don’t know how a little 19 year old that’s never even seen porn is supposed to help those struggling with it and/or work towards eliminating it…but I have to stop with the excuses.
If He has called me to try, I will try.
I want to live by His definition of failure, not mine.
We raise our white flag
We surrender
All to You, all for You
We raise our white flag
The war is over
Love has come, Love has won
(White Flag)
My white flag is up. The battle, the war…it’s over. Love has come and Love has won.
Why am I fighting Love with excuses?
Passion is not just an event. It is not just a time to raise money for a great cause and great organizations.
This year the focus was on human trafficking and slavery. Did you know there are 27 MILLION slaves in the world today?! That’s more than at any other time. I don’t know about you but I thought slavery was mainly a thing of the past. Oh sure I knew there were sweat shops and child slaves far away, but I thought maybe a hundred thousand – A TON, but not as big of an issue as world hunger etc. Wrong. 27 million. It doesn’t seem that huge until you put a face or a name with a statistic. I looked around the Dome at the 44,000 people and imagined them all as slaves. It was hard to comprehend. Then I doubled it in my mind and it was devastating. Then to think that would be just under 100,000…no where close to 27,000,000.
Anyways, we raised $3,066,670 and the goal was $1,000,000. I’m so proud and so excited for this generation. We can do such great things. I know 3 million doesn’t sound like one big number, but we’re college kids. For me to bring any money at all to donate was hard – I have so many other things I “need” that money for, and I’m going to have to sacrifice because I gave it away. But what kind of sacrifice can it really be – I’m not a slave.
Anyways – Passion is all that ^ and so much more. It’s a time of intense training and encouragement from some of todays best speakers. It’s a time of worship and shouting praise with some of todays best worship leaders. It’s a time to be challenged.
I will not be the same. My eyes have been opened to a huge issue in our world today.
It’s not that Passion is amazing, it’s that God’s presence is breath taking and I don’t think I’ve ever in my life felt His presence so strongly.
Please bare with me as I figure out where to go from here. All I know is that I’ve got to start in the Word.
I don’t want to ever recover from this week.
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