FBLA National Leadership Conference

After a late night getting back from the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville Wednesday night, I flew out very early Thursday morning and am now at the FBLA National Leadership Conference in Anaheim CA to support my 2 students who qualified to compete at this level. I am thrilled to be here with them and am extremely proud of them, but at the same time it is a little bittersweet to realize that this is my last activity with my students. They present their project tomorrow (Friday) morning. I am praying for clear thinking through the inevitable nerves they will experience.

Southern Baptist Convention

Tuesday through Wednesday I went to the Southern Baptist Convention as part of Second Baptist Church Choir and Orchestra. We had the amazing opportunity to sing, leading in worship at the convention Wednesday morning. We loaded up charter busses early Tuesday morning and drove about 10 hours to Louisville, stayed the night, and got up early to head over to the convention center.
After we sang our last set, we were able to sit down and watch our beloved Paster Marshall preach a very impacting, annointed message.
It was a blessing to be involved in the convention. The long bus rides both directions and the lack of sleep were well worth the blessing of the experience.

Selmore

This morning I had the opportunity to worship at Selmore Baptist Church in Ozark, where my brother and his family are members. (It also happens to be a church that my dad pastored while I was in college and a couple of years beyond that.) It was great to see some wonderful old friends and to also meet many people who have joined over the past few years. It meant a lot to me to have several of these borthers adn sisters in Christ commit to join me as prayer partners. Pastor Josh was very gracious to allow me the opportunity, and his prayer over me this morning meant more than he probably realized.

India

Sorry I haven't updated my blog lately. It has been a hectic couple of weeks. I have moved out of my duplex and am living a somewhat nomadic life this month. Last week I went on a mission trip to India. It was an unforgettable experience! I'll try to share a general outline of the week along with a few pictures.

Early in the week we visited some temples in India. Through this, I gained a greater understanding of the Hindu religion and practices. Below is a picture of a GIANT statue of a monkey-god that is worshipped.

One of the temples was a Hare Krishna temple, where we heard constant chanting of Krishna's name. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see people laying prostrate before statues of Krishna.

Another day, we traveled several hours to the town of Mathura, Krishna's alleged birthplace. As we walked the winding, narrow streets to visit a local temple, we were reminded of the descriptions of Old Testament days. There were people begging outside the temple and people selling things that could be offered to the gods. Our focus for this day trip was prayer walking, but we also had an unplanned opportunityt o do some "prayer-boating" on a lake that is part of a story about how Krishna supposedly turned blue as a child.
On our way out of Mathura, we stopped at a funeral pyre where a body was being burned, as is the common practice in that culture.
On another day, we took a longer trip to Jaipur to prayer walk/prayer drive. We counted camels to help pass the time, and our count reached 125!
In Jaipur, we went up to a mountain fort overlooking the city. It was an amazing site to behold and a fantastic place to literally pray over the city.

The day we traveled to Jaipur was an absotely crazy experience for so many reasons. It was the most intense day of my life! I don't say this lightly, but I truly believe that the Enemy was attacking us because he did not like our prayers and presence in a place where he has such a strongold. Traffic is always crazy in India, but not like it was on our way home that day! Trucks were coming at us left and right, and we lost a side mirror as a result.

As God continues to break my heart for the lost around the world, I find myself becoming more and more restless. I've always cared, but only through GOING have I put myself in a situation to allow God to truly break my heart, and only through a broken heart can I truly be in a position to be used by Him to reach people.