I really don’t know where to start. This weekend was so incredible. If you saw my post on Friday, you know that we went to the Passion Conference in Houston. In case you don’t know what Passion is, it is a christian conference for college students that exists to see a generation stake their lives on what matters most.
We left Friday afternoon with our College Group and drove to Houston in four vans completely filled with college students excited for the next 48 hours. The four hour drive was filled with lots of laughter, food, and music. & the first night of the conference blew me away.
The first session included worship music by Christ Tomlin, Christy Nockles and Kristian Stanfill and a message from Louie Giglio out of Isaiah 6. He really spoke about seeing and knowing God. He broke down how realizing who God is, is the 1st reaction in the passage, then once you “see” God in your own life, you grasp the depth of your sin and unworthiness (v. 5). My take away from his message was that you can go over and over things in your life and your sin, but it was already crushed and completely forgotten – you are only free from your past/sin when you have “seen” and “know” Christ.
The second session was really all Hillsong United playing worship music. It was an amazing experience worshiping live with them and 20,000 people in the Toyota Center. I can’t explain how breath-taking it was to see so many hands lifted high and people pouring out their hearts. Hillsong is my favorite, so it was also amazing for me to see them live and their song Love is War really stole my heart. I will have to say it really broke me down in the moment, I love the lyrics and it reawakened a passion in my heart for following Christ and fighting for love/following Him daily in my life.
Friday night was a really late night, we didn’t go to sleep until 3:30am and then woke up at 6:30am on Saturday morning to head back to the conference (basically, I had a 3 hour nap). But session three on Saturday morning was another high point for me. It started with worship music from Chris Tomlin and Kristian Stanfill and then Francis Chan spoke out of 2 Peter 1 and my take away was that Christ doesn’t call you to live a mediocre life, He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
Session 4 started with some amazing worship music from David Crowder and led into Beth Moore speaking out of 1 Timothy 6. My take away from her message was to “fight the good fight”. Meaning there are good and bad fights and to make sure you are focusing on the good one. Also, that your conscience can be your fight instead of just being cleansed (dwelling instead of forgiving yourself).
Session 5 was worship music with Matt Redman and a message from Judah Smith. Judah Smith was hilarious, he had me rolling laughing in my seat. He opened his message with a story about his wife giving birth for the first time and I could just see Kevin acting the same way he was describing (freaking out, not knowing what to do, making funny jokes). The text he spoke on was 2 Corinthians 5. High points: “We are taught that practice dictates position (in work, in school). But the bible says that you are instantaneously in Him when you accept Him. Then position dictates practice.” – “In Him is your position, but your practice is normally in You” – You stay busy trying to earn what you have already been given. You try to make church, small groups, etc about “you” instead of “in Him”. But there is no power in You, there is only power in Christ.
Overall, the weekend was incredible and breathtaking. I am very sleep deprived and now heading to my next conference in California but so thankful for such a great weekend.
