AND I KNOW THAT I AM NOW RESPONSIBLE.

"...(at the conference) Never have I seen so many people at one time, in one place. That was what seemed crazy at first. Then I realized that all of those thousands of people were so enamored with Jesus. All of them. And if they weren't yet, there was a longing to be. Every single hand that was raised was both a desperate cry for, and a whole-hearted praise of the love of Jesus. It was like nothing I'd ever seen or could have imagined. It made me feel hopeful. I was hopeful because sometimes with depressing news headlines and sickening stories, I feel like our little youth family is alone in this yearning to share His love. Sometimes I wonder: where are the Christians? Where are these people that say they follow Jesus? They were right there Jeff. Lovers of THE Love from 43 US states, and 6 nations. Is that not completely marvelous to you? Like I said, I'd never seen that many people at one time, let alone people with the same purpose as us, and this was just one conference in Orlando FL!! That's what gives me hope...if a number that size was in just my range of vision, there must be millions that I can't see. When I looked at the crowd, jumping, screaming, laughing, dancing, I realized that was the army. I saw no bones, no single individual, but an army.

There was a song I was introduced to. 'Albertine' by Brooke Fraser. It's about her journey of meeting a young orphan girl from Rwanda. The man that introduced Brooke to this girl, Albertine, asked her, begged her, to write a song about the girl. Brooke promised, and she wrote the song. This is one of the lines that I'm convicted by:

'Now that I have seen, I am responsible; faith without deeds is dead.'

Wow. She saw, and she felt responsible to tell her own world about it. I know that I've told about Honduras, Ivey Lane, etc., but this meant something else to me this weekend. I feel like by seeing all of those people singing for Jesus, as His army, I saw Jesus himself. How could anybody-ANYBODY-at all doubt Christ, or simply doubt that something was there? What else besides something so miraculous, so beautiful, so unified, could make thousands of people all lose control of their bodies, throwing their arms up in adoration and desperation? Nothing else can do that. So I now I know that I really can't question His existence, because I've seen it. I saw Jesus in this crowd. I wasn't even emotional about it. I was just overcome with greatfulness and awe. I could not stop thanking God that He was there, that He is Himself. Basically, I know that I've seen. This is what I saw. And I know that I am now responsible. How do I live out this responsibility? I know I'm called to love, but what else? How else do I share this? I've been trying to live LOVE WINS since I first heard it, and I like it. It's worked for me. I feel like LOVE WINS has kept me out of drama, jealousy, and hatred. I love living that but I want to take it further and knowing that I'm responsible scares me...but I want to do it. I want to share, I want to fulfull this responsibility and I'm asking you to help me."

Download "Albertine" by Brooke Fraser.