One thing is certain every year at Vision Quest: in some combination, there will be blood, sweat, and tears. Without fail.
Laguna Beach, Florida, is usually a calm, relaxing destination on the Gulf of Mexico, sitting just far enough to not be sucked into the Spring Break Fever of neighboring Panama City and its adjacent beach. Volunteers For Christ (VFC) has been coming to this stretch of beach for years. The scene rarely changes. The M.O. rarely changes. The schedule rarely changes. The people may change every year, but the one thing that remains the same over the many years is that God always shows up. As with any human, God loves the beach (He did create it after all) and every year always makes an impact, even for someone that has gone three or more times.
Vision Quest annually serves as the ideal respite between a cold (relatively speaking....by Tennessee standards) first couple months of the spring semester and the warmer, yet more stressful, second half of the term, when papers, finals and wrapping everything up comes up fast. For a week, there is nothing but the soft feeling of (mostly) smooth white sand between your toes, the (cold) break of the Gulf of Mexico waves, the welcoming rays of the sun (undisturbed by storm clouds, or any clouds at all), the always breathtaking reds and oranges of a Florida sunset and, more importantly than anything else, about 150 of your closest VFC friends. It's a pretty epic combination. Simply epic.
Sure, it's awesome being on the beach, being in Florida, being away from the daily grinds of college. What is more awesome about this special week is being able to focus on fellowship--with God, with old friends, with new friends. It's a time to grow, to reflect, to realize what God has done in life over the period of time where the common Christian might not have paid much attention to during the busy rest of life. Listening to preaching from one of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville's many wonderful pastors, worshiping, and hanging out create an environment that is comparable to little else that at least I have experienced before.
Life is full of seasons. Times, chapters in our lives which take us for a spin on the roller coaster of life. As a veteran of Vision Quests past, it is amazing how effective the week is every year. The season of life during this week stretch always has seemed to be different each of the past three years, yet every year, there is a similar feeling of awe that comes out of it. God and His word constantly strikes me in some way or another that makes it always enjoyable and enriching to hear and learn. Sure, 1,862 pictures might tell a detailed account of the week from Sunday to Friday and may give a surface-level sense of what all we did in Laguna Beach, but the emotional and spiritual fill that come as a result transcends any amateur photograph that I could take.
The peace, the love, the joy, the serenity that leaves on the buses with 150 college students is a feeling that is not natural, counter-cultural maybe. In the chaotic garb of everyday life, a new trend of peace floods the soul. It's a soothing calmness, a desirable gift that is definitely something the average person does not or should not take for granted. In a season where the upcoming year is full of unknowns, question marks, and a flight or two across the vast Atlantic Ocean, it is amazing to feel the peace that I feel. Everything will be okay because I think God is in control. Simple, maybe. Cliche, probably. Yet I feel awesome and not stressed because of it. That's a rarity.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The Road Ahead
After hanging out with a friend that I haven't seen for about a year and a half, I realized how my perceptions and introspective behavior at times can get the better of me. I have over and over and over again realized that the initial perceptions that people (including myself) have for one another tends to be skewed or narrow-minded in some way or another. People tend to be better than what I initially expect, yet I fall into a similar constant mindset.
Maybe it's because I'm judgmental at heart, despite my sometimes futile attempts to not be so, but it is always surprising to me when people and other situations turn out to be better than I anticipate them to be. By now, I should be able to trust God and His plan and His direction, yet there's still a struggle. A struggle to give in to what isn't what I think. A struggle to trust something or someone that I cannot physically see. A struggle to be able to humbly go against what might make sense and what is true. A former slave once wrote "The soul that trusts in God need never stumble nor fall, because God being wise and seeing and knowing all things, having looked down through time before time, foresaw every creeping thing and poured out His spirit on the earth...."
For a God that is so omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, it sure is hard at times for me to trust and go with what He has planned for me, especially in terms of personal relationships. Not being in constant contact with people can be troublesome for me and it can hurt inside when I don't talk to a good friend for a long period of time. It's hard sometimes, but that is when I constantly forget that the plan made for me will work its way out for the best. What is in store down the road and comes as a surprise to us is simply another curve along the constructed road. The planners of the road has every single hill and dip and twist and turn and intersection planned before any driver takes a ride on it.
Same logic applies here.
Maybe it's because I'm judgmental at heart, despite my sometimes futile attempts to not be so, but it is always surprising to me when people and other situations turn out to be better than I anticipate them to be. By now, I should be able to trust God and His plan and His direction, yet there's still a struggle. A struggle to give in to what isn't what I think. A struggle to trust something or someone that I cannot physically see. A struggle to be able to humbly go against what might make sense and what is true. A former slave once wrote "The soul that trusts in God need never stumble nor fall, because God being wise and seeing and knowing all things, having looked down through time before time, foresaw every creeping thing and poured out His spirit on the earth...."
For a God that is so omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, it sure is hard at times for me to trust and go with what He has planned for me, especially in terms of personal relationships. Not being in constant contact with people can be troublesome for me and it can hurt inside when I don't talk to a good friend for a long period of time. It's hard sometimes, but that is when I constantly forget that the plan made for me will work its way out for the best. What is in store down the road and comes as a surprise to us is simply another curve along the constructed road. The planners of the road has every single hill and dip and twist and turn and intersection planned before any driver takes a ride on it.
Same logic applies here.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Exposing Myself and Becoming Vulnerable to the Unfamiliar: My Love-Hate Relationship with Politics.
Politics have never been my thing.
Whenever anything government or politics-related came on the news, I usually would turn the channel to something else or avoid reading anything related on the the internet. It wasn't that I didn't care about my country and what was going on. I guess, as a journalism major, I realized to an extent how skewed and biased the news and media tend to be nowadays.
As a journalism major, that's frustrating and a little bit annoying, especially when people have long, monotonous--and at times, demeaning and downright ugly--political "discussions" on Facebook or Twitter or any other means of communication.
Doesn't really shine government in a very positive light for those like me across the nation.
---
So, I admit it was kind of ironic for me when I received an electronic invitation to attend the 2013 Collegiate Presidential Inaugural Conference in Washington, D.C. Sure, I was extremely honored to be considered smart enough and accomplished enough to be even considered to have such a prestigious event handed to me.
But, it is politics.
Hesitant, I wasn't psyched about going. I'd have to miss school, I'd have to find a way to get to the airport and back. I'd have to network and open up in order to get to know a large, random group of people from all over the world for a few days with the expectations of the whole experience being fairly low/neutral.
I should know by now that if my expectations are one thing, then usually the opposite will happen. Or at least everything will work out for the very best.
Even if it is politics.
---
Actually, I really enjoyed not having a clue what was going on flying into Washington early in the morning. Not having any knowledge of who the speakers were outside of their names, or not knowing anyone there, or not knowing much (if anything) about our political system and why people liked or disliked Barack Obama. It's humbling not being the knowledgeable one in any given situation, but the unknown actually is quite enjoyable....at least I thought it was.
The conference schedule itself was intense and chock-full of activities, speakers and events all four days of the conference. From the very beginning, the conference put a number of us nervous, anxious scholars at ease. Our first group meeting and a separate networking event late at night helped lighten the mood a bit and allowed the scholars to get to know somebody to give the conference more of a comfortable and a more familiar feel.
Those group meetings also struck a chord during the long weekend. I've been to conferences just as large and what makes me anxious more than anything else is gaining a new group of great relationships and friends, especially in such a small window. Are we gonna connect? Will conversations be deep and inciteful? Will we want to be with each other and hang out with each other? Because of the six scheduled meetings in four days, this almost could set the tone for the conference. If I enjoyed the meetings, I would enjoy the conference as a whole a lot more. I hoped for a 'yes' to each of the above questions, but, looking back, I am still awestruck by the resounding 'YES!!!!!' that resulted as the answer to my questions.
At a conference like this, it is so easy to get lost within the enormity of the crowds and feel alone, especially when not knowing anyone. Blessed, encouraged, thankful don't really begin to cover how I still feel to this day weeks afterward. We have a Facebook group, we exchanged numbers and contact information, we had fantastically deep conversations, we hung out with each other and wanted to be with each other for the most part even when we didn't have to be.
.......This is me struggling for words because I am in just pure amazement.
---
The inauguration and conference itself was of course fantastic. It's the inauguration...it's really hard (even when one wakes up at 4:30 in the morning) to not have fun and enjoy the spectacle that is the Presidential Inauguration itself. The sunrise over the capitol building and the quiet before the big, climatic ceremony (and the early access to the Museum of Natural History) made waking up at such an absurd hour worth it all. Sure, we weren't right up close to the president, but we were close enough where we saw the building and the podium and were in a central location to fully enjoy the experience.
This country has its faults. That's a given....we have issues and we have problems that we as Americans are (and will be) dealing with. On a cool Monday morning on the National Mall, however, there was a rejuvenating feeling of hope and (more importantly?) of unity. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people, Americans and non-Americans, gathered together, all with American flags waving back and forth, in one moment of celebration. Democrats were there. Republicans were there. Moderates were there. Many different races were there. Many different ethnic groups were there. For a short moment, pride and joy about being a citizen of the United States of America was displayed for miles and miles. Despite our problems, a sense of 'there's no other place I'd rather call home' swept across the crowd. At least I felt it...can't speak for the almost one million other people.
If Jesse Jackson, Jeb Bush, James Carville and Mary Matalin agreed on one general idea, it was that this generation is on the forefront of what is going to happen in the future. 2012 was an overall rough year for the USA, but 2013 could very well be a year that sets a tone for the future of the country. The prejudices which once defined our country are, over time and generations, wearing away and this is resulting in a generation which is tired of the negatives of the past and have a desire to make a change, make a difference, make a statement. When, and only when, people choose the direction of hope and band together, with all the differences and all the party divisions and all the stereotypes put aside, we have the power to salvage the world from the hate, the negatives, the violence, what's dominating the news nowadays.
When we expose ourselves and make ourselves vulnerable to the unfamiliar, walls are destroyed, minds are changed, people are humbled and the differences dissolve into nothingness. In a way, the conference was a microcosm of the world. A group of different cultures, races, ethnic groups, religions and mindsets together in one hotel recognizing that the world is set for a turn out of the past and is dead set for a future that looks encouraging and bright.
Do I still love politics? Not so much, but I definitely feel have obtained a keener interest in the state of the country and now, at least, I care about what's going on.
For pictures that I took during the event (there are a lot of them), go to this site or copy and paste the link into your browser:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200471517217233.2200318.1436136815&type=3
Whenever anything government or politics-related came on the news, I usually would turn the channel to something else or avoid reading anything related on the the internet. It wasn't that I didn't care about my country and what was going on. I guess, as a journalism major, I realized to an extent how skewed and biased the news and media tend to be nowadays.
As a journalism major, that's frustrating and a little bit annoying, especially when people have long, monotonous--and at times, demeaning and downright ugly--political "discussions" on Facebook or Twitter or any other means of communication.
Doesn't really shine government in a very positive light for those like me across the nation.
---
So, I admit it was kind of ironic for me when I received an electronic invitation to attend the 2013 Collegiate Presidential Inaugural Conference in Washington, D.C. Sure, I was extremely honored to be considered smart enough and accomplished enough to be even considered to have such a prestigious event handed to me.
But, it is politics.
Hesitant, I wasn't psyched about going. I'd have to miss school, I'd have to find a way to get to the airport and back. I'd have to network and open up in order to get to know a large, random group of people from all over the world for a few days with the expectations of the whole experience being fairly low/neutral.
I should know by now that if my expectations are one thing, then usually the opposite will happen. Or at least everything will work out for the very best.
Even if it is politics.
---
Actually, I really enjoyed not having a clue what was going on flying into Washington early in the morning. Not having any knowledge of who the speakers were outside of their names, or not knowing anyone there, or not knowing much (if anything) about our political system and why people liked or disliked Barack Obama. It's humbling not being the knowledgeable one in any given situation, but the unknown actually is quite enjoyable....at least I thought it was.
The conference schedule itself was intense and chock-full of activities, speakers and events all four days of the conference. From the very beginning, the conference put a number of us nervous, anxious scholars at ease. Our first group meeting and a separate networking event late at night helped lighten the mood a bit and allowed the scholars to get to know somebody to give the conference more of a comfortable and a more familiar feel.
Those group meetings also struck a chord during the long weekend. I've been to conferences just as large and what makes me anxious more than anything else is gaining a new group of great relationships and friends, especially in such a small window. Are we gonna connect? Will conversations be deep and inciteful? Will we want to be with each other and hang out with each other? Because of the six scheduled meetings in four days, this almost could set the tone for the conference. If I enjoyed the meetings, I would enjoy the conference as a whole a lot more. I hoped for a 'yes' to each of the above questions, but, looking back, I am still awestruck by the resounding 'YES!!!!!' that resulted as the answer to my questions.
At a conference like this, it is so easy to get lost within the enormity of the crowds and feel alone, especially when not knowing anyone. Blessed, encouraged, thankful don't really begin to cover how I still feel to this day weeks afterward. We have a Facebook group, we exchanged numbers and contact information, we had fantastically deep conversations, we hung out with each other and wanted to be with each other for the most part even when we didn't have to be.
.......This is me struggling for words because I am in just pure amazement.
---
The inauguration and conference itself was of course fantastic. It's the inauguration...it's really hard (even when one wakes up at 4:30 in the morning) to not have fun and enjoy the spectacle that is the Presidential Inauguration itself. The sunrise over the capitol building and the quiet before the big, climatic ceremony (and the early access to the Museum of Natural History) made waking up at such an absurd hour worth it all. Sure, we weren't right up close to the president, but we were close enough where we saw the building and the podium and were in a central location to fully enjoy the experience.
This country has its faults. That's a given....we have issues and we have problems that we as Americans are (and will be) dealing with. On a cool Monday morning on the National Mall, however, there was a rejuvenating feeling of hope and (more importantly?) of unity. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people, Americans and non-Americans, gathered together, all with American flags waving back and forth, in one moment of celebration. Democrats were there. Republicans were there. Moderates were there. Many different races were there. Many different ethnic groups were there. For a short moment, pride and joy about being a citizen of the United States of America was displayed for miles and miles. Despite our problems, a sense of 'there's no other place I'd rather call home' swept across the crowd. At least I felt it...can't speak for the almost one million other people.
If Jesse Jackson, Jeb Bush, James Carville and Mary Matalin agreed on one general idea, it was that this generation is on the forefront of what is going to happen in the future. 2012 was an overall rough year for the USA, but 2013 could very well be a year that sets a tone for the future of the country. The prejudices which once defined our country are, over time and generations, wearing away and this is resulting in a generation which is tired of the negatives of the past and have a desire to make a change, make a difference, make a statement. When, and only when, people choose the direction of hope and band together, with all the differences and all the party divisions and all the stereotypes put aside, we have the power to salvage the world from the hate, the negatives, the violence, what's dominating the news nowadays.
When we expose ourselves and make ourselves vulnerable to the unfamiliar, walls are destroyed, minds are changed, people are humbled and the differences dissolve into nothingness. In a way, the conference was a microcosm of the world. A group of different cultures, races, ethnic groups, religions and mindsets together in one hotel recognizing that the world is set for a turn out of the past and is dead set for a future that looks encouraging and bright.
Do I still love politics? Not so much, but I definitely feel have obtained a keener interest in the state of the country and now, at least, I care about what's going on.
For pictures that I took during the event (there are a lot of them), go to this site or copy and paste the link into your browser:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200471517217233.2200318.1436136815&type=3
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
"We got to rise up, open our eyes up, be her voice, be her freedom, come on and stand up."
The only noise heard on a cool night in Downtown Atlanta is the clanging of feet on gutter covers just outside of the Georgia Dome.
No sound, but music from the worship session just minutes before still rings in the ears and sits on the minds of over 60,000 college students walking the short distances to their small groups of people that they have known for a few days, if that.
It's not an awkward silence. It's not a cold silence. It's not an eerie silence.
It's a warm silence. A strong silence. A moving silence. An intriguing silence.
A passionate silence.
---
I've been a little nervous about the mega-church phenomenon that has become a part of American Christian culture. It's awesome that more and more churches are growing and spreading, but I sometimes question the effectiveness--and the accuracy--of the message that these large congregations are being told.
I haven't been to many churches (ok, I've only been to one church), but going to a conference with an attendance estimated to be greater than 60,000 people gave me some questions and made me a little skeptical. How impacted would I be? How serious for God would these people be? How much will I really get out of this?
The ending judgment resulted with a mix of jaw-dropping, eye-opening, humbling, amazing and uniting awesomeness...an omnipresent sense of joy that can not be contained in a blog post, in a dome, or even in the atmosphere...a light that shines brighter than a three-mile beam of light illuminating the Atlanta night.
---
The impressive lights. The huge crowds of people and the constant pedestrian swarms walking to the dome and back. The star musicians in the Christian music genre. An all-star cast of preachers from across the country. The ridiculous budget needed to put on such a spectacle. There's a lot of potential distractions that can take a person's mind off of the main focus the message. Give the staff credit...instead of inwardly placing the focus on themselves, the Passion team wisely reflects the image of the one that the focus should be put on.
That would be God. Jesus. The three in one. You get the idea....
On top of that alone, which would be enough of a reason to be excited and passionate about everything at this conference, is the drive and compassion and will to change the world's current state, particularly in the form of abolishing modern-day slavery.
It's been on Facebook, Twitter, any social media outlet, and even on CNN news several times (The Freedom Project) (Passion 2013) (Louie Giglio's CNN interview), but the movement supporting this fight, known as the End It Movement (@enditmovement / End It Movement) is just a point of action and awareness to a problem that has been going on continuously all over the world long before Passion...understandably so, there are already skeptical people out there saying 'these kids won't do anything....they'll just forget about it in a few months...everyone just needs a cause.'
Like almost any average person that hears about this for the first time, many of the 60,000 were unaware of the issue at hand (myself included). Unlike almost any average person or generation that hears about this for the first time, there is now a fire lit. Watch out world, this generation has arrived...with an army of One and thousands more.
Twenty Seven Million, by Matt Redman and LZ7
No sound, but music from the worship session just minutes before still rings in the ears and sits on the minds of over 60,000 college students walking the short distances to their small groups of people that they have known for a few days, if that.
It's not an awkward silence. It's not a cold silence. It's not an eerie silence.
It's a warm silence. A strong silence. A moving silence. An intriguing silence.
A passionate silence.
---
I've been a little nervous about the mega-church phenomenon that has become a part of American Christian culture. It's awesome that more and more churches are growing and spreading, but I sometimes question the effectiveness--and the accuracy--of the message that these large congregations are being told.
I haven't been to many churches (ok, I've only been to one church), but going to a conference with an attendance estimated to be greater than 60,000 people gave me some questions and made me a little skeptical. How impacted would I be? How serious for God would these people be? How much will I really get out of this?
The ending judgment resulted with a mix of jaw-dropping, eye-opening, humbling, amazing and uniting awesomeness...an omnipresent sense of joy that can not be contained in a blog post, in a dome, or even in the atmosphere...a light that shines brighter than a three-mile beam of light illuminating the Atlanta night.
---
The impressive lights. The huge crowds of people and the constant pedestrian swarms walking to the dome and back. The star musicians in the Christian music genre. An all-star cast of preachers from across the country. The ridiculous budget needed to put on such a spectacle. There's a lot of potential distractions that can take a person's mind off of the main focus the message. Give the staff credit...instead of inwardly placing the focus on themselves, the Passion team wisely reflects the image of the one that the focus should be put on.
That would be God. Jesus. The three in one. You get the idea....
On top of that alone, which would be enough of a reason to be excited and passionate about everything at this conference, is the drive and compassion and will to change the world's current state, particularly in the form of abolishing modern-day slavery.
It's been on Facebook, Twitter, any social media outlet, and even on CNN news several times (The Freedom Project) (Passion 2013) (Louie Giglio's CNN interview), but the movement supporting this fight, known as the End It Movement (@enditmovement / End It Movement) is just a point of action and awareness to a problem that has been going on continuously all over the world long before Passion...understandably so, there are already skeptical people out there saying 'these kids won't do anything....they'll just forget about it in a few months...everyone just needs a cause.'
Like almost any average person that hears about this for the first time, many of the 60,000 were unaware of the issue at hand (myself included). Unlike almost any average person or generation that hears about this for the first time, there is now a fire lit. Watch out world, this generation has arrived...with an army of One and thousands more.
Twenty Seven Million, by Matt Redman and LZ7
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