Passion, Seriously.

Day Four, my final day at Passion2012 is over. My feet ache and my heart has expanded 44,000 times it’s normal size, but I’ve never felt better in my life. Everything about the conference was amazing. Even the fact that out of 44,000 students and 2,000 volunteers, only ONE person managed to annoy me. In the spirit of the conference I’ve decided to forgive her.

As I look back over the week, it’s clear that even though the conference was for students, God had something to say to ME. He’s awesome like that. He’s got enough for 44,000 and 1! So here’s a few things I picked up along the way.

1. I could sacrifice more. I’m not talking about giving money, or doing without STUFF, though that would be a good idea, too. I’m talking about sacrificing time. Carolyn and I were originally going to stay downtown for the week, but she couldn’t find anyone to put her kids on the bus. I understood, they would have had to be there by 5 a.m., and that’s hard for everybody. But because we couldn’t stay downtown, we got there later and left earlier, leaving the team shorthanded. We would have been blessed big time by the sacrifice and in turn, could have blessed others more. So in 2012, I’m going to try and go the extra mile a little more. Sacrifice, by definition, means laying down something prized for a higher purpose. It’s true, I looked it up.

2. I can trust God. I’m not gonna lie, when I found out I was on the Outside Team, I was really sad. Something about the word, “outside” bothered me. I wasn’t so worried about the cold, but for some reason I pictured all of the students, encountering God in huge ways on the inside of the conference, with me, nose pressed to the glass, looking in and missing everything. I should have known better. I LOVED my job. I got to interact with the kids, hang with Carolyn, made a new, awesome friend, and got to sit in for some of every session. Seriously, when am I ever going to learn?

3. I don’t need to despair about the youngins. The students were amazing. Really. They were polite, well-behaved, and kind. We had random people walk up and give us gave free coffee,  a thank you note, even a calzone. And they gave to money to fund 6 different organizations in the fight against human trafficking. Over 2.5 million dollars. God has big plans for this generation and they were amazing to behold.

I read today that Passion2013 will not only be at the Dome again, it will be open to full capacity – 71,000! I can’t wait. I’d even volunteer to be on the same team. Although I think they should rename it something a bit more friendly, like Exterior Traffic Engineering Team. It’s just a suggestion.