First Impressions / Grown at Home

Ya, so, today I did laundry and a lot of guitar playing. haha.

I'm worship leader this weekend and it's gonna be kinda similar to what worship was like in St. Louis, at least setlist-wise. haha. I actually had to try and write out chords to a song that was made for Urbana, but I asked SM to help and he scrapped like half of what I did, but it sounded way better and he got the bridge. lol.

Anyways, since that's boring, let me tell you a bit about my first impressions of Urbana.

Revelation Song - Four Languages! Just a taste of heaven.

So, I was really conflicted about not being in Toronto for P2C+, formerly Winter Conference. But I was kinda blown away by the sheer scale of everything. I had been going with SL and MC until I had to go pay while they registered. So I was alone in that crowd. But it was seriously crazy.

Urbana is a 'Missions Conference', so I knew it was going to be a lot about encouraging people to go and be missionaries. This often means career missionaries that go to other parts of the world to share the gospel. This isn't a bad thing, but I was warned to really think about the things that are said and pray about it, not just jump on board with everyone else or anything. God could be calling me to stay in Canada, or do ministry here, or the workplace or I don't even know, but ya, that was part of my mindset going in.

The first session emphasized that we should just surrender our plans before God and see where He leads us this week. The speaker emphasized the need for Missions to not be compromised. The passage was in Luke 4:14-30, Jesus declaring his mission and identifying himself as Christ. The first point was the importance of the Spirit in missions. It says both at the start of the passage as well as the first part of Isaiah Jesus reads that he is filled with the Spirit. Although we often make missions into 'what can we do' mindset, we need the Spirit if anything is going to happen through us. The second compromise is that we need a full view of who Jesus is. The people said 'isn't this just Joseph's son?' Jesus was far more than that. Not just God, not just in human form, not just a prophet, not just alive for 33 years, not just Saviour for the Jews. If we ever limit our view of who He is it will reflect in our faith in Him. Another compromise that we put requirements on Him before we follow. The people wanted a miracle before they'd follow him. Calisto's final words in this message were "Leave here as an ambassador that will not compromise!"

One thing he said really resonated with me though, "If it is not good for local consumption, it is not good for export." Jesus first revealed himself to his own hometown. He started where he was before going out. I tend to do the opposite; I go and go and go, I want to go elsewhere. The lessons I learn when away helps me when I get back, but I'm still apprehensive sharing Christ with my friends and family. I need to just trust in Him more and truly, there are so many opportunities here. I need to ask for a change in my heart to keep me loving on my friends. What better way to share my love for them then by sharing God's love and blessings with them? But ya, Spirit-led boldness is a requirement for sure.

I'm taking steps though. On the bus home I prayed for my mom quite a bit and I really heard that the next step for me to sharing with her is that I need to be praying for her, with her. So last night I went before going to bed, and I was pretty scared, so it was like a couple hours later, but I asked 'can I pray for you?' and I was really tired by then, but I prayed for her. Tonight was better. lol. I hope to keep praying for her in person each night I am still here and then over the phone when I'm back, but it breaks my heart that I don't think she'll get any better until she receives and trusts in Christ, but I just need to keep praying that day comes soon.

Ya. lol.

Ttyl.

D.Fa