Hey, all!

I'm back from a small "trip" to the hospital as a patient... had a quick surgery on Friday to remove the old left kidney, but I'm back home now. Didn't want to worry y'all too much, so you're finding out in retrospect; I'll be checking on all the messages you all left sometime today after church!

Silke:)

Kingdom workers

It's almost getting a little late for this post, as the immediate excitement is fading. I have to say, it is embarrassing to see how much fear we as Christians have to talk about "religion," whether it is with other Christians in public (where we could be overheard), or whether it is to non-believers. To some extent; it seems worse at work, because that would be considered inappropriate. The other day, however, I had some sort of eye-opening: What it comes down to is this: Our embarrassment and shame to reveal ourselves as "Christians" I think shows a deep underlying refusal to believe that God is "who He says He is;" namely all-powerful, ever-present, and above all things (and people, including their opinions of you and me, mind you) of this world. If we really believed that God is just that big, and we believe that God is on our side, then how come we don't act "proud to be Christian," and boast in Him all the time? Somehow, that question just resonated with me, and I resolved right then to practice "boasting in Him" more often, despite all my science-coworkers (who will probably think that it's "weak" or "not scientifically sound" to believe that God created the whole world). Don't you think it's AWESOME that He DID?

For my encouragement, God then provided some excellent examples of three kingdom workers who, quite unlike me, are not afraid: 3 middle-schoolers whom I teach on Sunday mornings. Scary, huh? The one with the responsibility to teach, being "schooled" by her students! It was an entirely off-topic conversation that started after class, but almost made all of us late for service:) The first shared how she had invited a non-believing friend (with anti-Christian parents) to her house to play, and intentionally set out all the "Christian" things she owned. Turns out, this friend was hooked on a CD that day, that her nonbelieving mother (get this) ordered as a Birthday present through a Christian bookstore. Now, my Sunday schooler was struggling to see how this girl could become a Christian, with her parents being opposed to "religion." So, girl #2 shared stories of 2 girls that had become faithful believers despite their parents. And on it went, how she and a friend had been inviting others to church-related fun activities, and one of five is now a regular attendee at some of their meetings. Girl #3 shared how she had also invited others, but none had yet come. However, her excitement for Christ was obvious, because the minute I said that I sometimes felt "shy" to reveal that I'm a Christian, she retorted: "No, I'm excited to tell people!" (sort of saying, "What's wrong with YOU?) These young Christians are out there, doing the work of the harvesters, and I'm ashamed to say, I've not kept up with them. But what an encouragement to hear first-hand what God is doing in our community!

In conclusion, we decided to pray for these teenagers, and especially their seeking friends, this week, anytime a snapping sound or a clapping sound is heard... feel free to join in that prayer in any way you wish!

Silke

Passion '06 and '07

Some have asked what exactly I did while volunteering at P'06; so here it is:

We arrived on Sunday night, and registered as volunteers. We got a blue or turquoise T-shirt, ID bands, name tags, some snacks, and basic instructions. There were several different teams (I'm not sure I remember all of them, but they included Touch Team, Prayer and Intercession, Late Nites, Community Groups, Meals, Registration, and some computer-related something). I was on the Touch team, my friend Donna was on Community Groups, and Christine was on the Kneel team (prayer).

Many who arrived early on Sunday helped to un-pack and set up for registration, but I got there too late for that (I heard it was a lot of fun; and I'm helping next year... Lord willing). We went for dinner together with Susan, whom we also met there. Due to our collective old age, we then went to the hotel to get settled and chat.

On Monday, there was more volunteer registration in the morning, but we had one big meeting at 11 am for all volunteers... basically Louie said things like not to come whining to him, but to stay within our teams. After Louie' pep talk, we split into our teams. Some teams were further divided (eg Touch team had arena, directional, security, and 2 other sub-teams). Within our teams, we learned our "job descriptions" in detail; and were assigned the times and places to be and what to know and what to do.
Some friends helped with registration and joined other volunteer teams the next day.
Our team met at 5pm in the arena to take our positions, take a look at our sections to make sure they were "safe," and nothing was missing or wrong. We memorized bathroom locations, first aid, etc. At 6pm doors opened and students rushed in; so we tried to slow them down:) "Tried" is the key word... we made sure all found seats, guided traffic, and then during the first main session, kept the curtains shut. And I got to enjoy the sessions live. Volunteers were encouraged to attend in the rehearsal hall, because it was sold out. Otherwise, they would have also been invited to the arena. We'll see how that goes next year...

Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday were very similar; except Thursday ended early. Community groups met at 9, the big meeting in the arena was around 10:30 or 11 (I forget), and our team met an hour before then to re-evaluate, pray, and get ready again. Same job... except in the mornings we helped to set up for lunch (so we missed the talks). I found one of the most worshipful things was to keep the curtain closed to keep the distraction of light from the 18,000 brothers and sisters... and doing the cleanups between sessions "in secret." God was just close. The feeding of the 18,000 was pretty amazing, though, as it happened in 20-30 minutes only. During break on Tuesday, I went to the prayer room... that was very impressive. It took me 1 1/2 hours to go through it... pretty cool! But the spiritual warfare was intense. After a break, we met again at around 5pm to get ready for the next session. During Late Nites, we found out that some of the bands were practicing in the arena, and so some of us went over there to sit and listen... (of all things, that was one of my absolute favorites). We went to bed between 11pm-1am and got up around 6-7am.

On Wednesday, I went to one of the breakouts... didn't find out we could go until then, but I enjoyed it very much! The rest of the day was pretty much an exact replica of Tuesday; except during the nightly main session, nobody was allowed to speak a word coming in; that made it interesting! All of a sudden, the hired arena staff were asking all kinds of questions... and at best, I could whisper:)

Lunch was generally free in the arena with students; we were on our own for breakfast (at the hotel) and dinner. Some of us fasted here and there, and plenty of fruit, trail mixes, chips, cookies, and muffins were available in the volunteer lounge.

Thursday morning went by quickly; we stuck around for break-down and clean-up after the main session and the students were dismissed. That's how I met several other people. To close out, the 5 of us went to dinner again... and had a blast at Hard Rock Cafe (we rocked the place, and joined with some students to start the party clap... oh, and we sang "you are my joy..." on stage... who said "old" people can't have fun and act like kids... walking down the street screaming: "This is for glory! HIS glory!" There's a slurry of memories coming back just now...

It was fun, great, etc. In my mind, God showed up... in many different ways. Christine spent most her time praying (from about 10-11am to 4-10pm ish), Donna helped with Community groups at 9am and 9pm, oh, and most of us helped with the Wednesday Late Nites since they needed more volunteers to control the crowds... I ended up standing in a thin hoodie in the freezing cold for an hour, keeping students in line for Shane&Shane... but they were super-nice to talk to (that was another favorite time, despite the cold weather).

Ok, so, I'm planning to go to Passion '07; I wish everyone of my friends could join me. I have said it many times, it was the best vacation I had in 5 years! Not one filled with sleep or sunshine, but one full of so much "otherness" that despite lack of sleep I left refreshed!

Hope to see you all in Atlanta!

Silke