Christ is Risen

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by death, Come awake, Come awake, Come and rise up from the grave.

Christ is risen from the dead, we are one with Him again, Come awake, Come awake, Come and rise up from the grave.

Oh, death, where is your sting?

Oh, hell, where is your victory?

Oh, church, come stand in the light.

The glory for God has defeated the night.

Our God is not dead, He's alive, He's alive.

-Matt Maher, Christ is Risen

Well, it was about time for us to have an adventure with our youth.  We went to the Ignite Student Conference last night and this morning.  At this event, the speaker was Afshin Ziafat, Drew Worsham, and Jeff Johnson Band.  As with any event that Preacher Man and I are involved with we have to think about childcare.  We were so incredibly blessed to have a sweet friend watch over our girls while we were with our youth.  She was one of the first people I left Gabby with.  We are so blessed to still have her in our lives! Once that was all set and planned, I started to pray about this weekend and God moving and blessing our youth.

Last night, Afshin talked about in Philippians 1:1, there is a greeting from Paul and Timothy.  They call themselves slaves of Christ.  We are all slaves to something, but when we are slaves in Christ we are set free from the slavery of sin.  Death and sin has spread to all of us.  Life is through Christ.  God will exalt the humble, and humbles the proud.  You must lose everything to gain Christ.  After this message, Afshin did a time of invitation and there was a large amount of students that made a decision to make Christ first in their life.  We sang Christ is Risen after the invitation.  Afterward, we made our way to a church that opened their doors for us to rest in.  I was a little tired for an IHOP run, but we did it anyway.  After we were there for a bit, all the youth were exhausted and begging to go back to the church and rest.  I haven't seen that happen before on a youth trip.  Thankfully, they weren't joking our crew was ready for bed in no time.  Unfortunately, this youth sponsor didn't know this building (or where the thermostats for our room were. OOPS!) and our high school girls froze a little bit last night.

Today, Afshin talked about a Day In Day Out relationship, not an event spark relationship with God.  At the wedding day, the mission is NOT accomplished, it is NOT the ultimate goal.  It is to be at the starting line and to continue through the years (50+ years down the road) and feel the mission is accomplished.  The relationship with God is NOT a sprint, but a marathon to follow Christ.  We, as Christians, need to fast from sin and feed on the word of Jesus. Preacher Man talked with me and we both were able to see God showing and revealing things to us.  We saw our youth worship God unashamed and freely.  It blesses my hear to see their passion rise up for God.

So, I am a bit tired and needing to rest, but my spirit is no longer weak and weary.  When you see God work in anyone's life it reminds you of your awakening.  Now we are spending a little time as a family.  Preacher Man and I are hoping to put all the girls in bed a bit early and get some physical rest for tomorrow.  Thank you for reading and sharing in our experience from this weekend.