Passion 2011

It's a new day. A new year. A clean slate. A new beginning. This is what was great about starting off the year with Passion. Prior to arriving in Atlanta, GA for the Passion conference, I prayed that God would work in my life somehow, that He would in a sense "wreck" my life because I felt like I had been on a plateau for way too long.

As I stood amongst thousands of college students in the arena for the first session, watching the intro video and singing my heart out during worship, I had the most intense goosebumps (chill bumps, willies, whatever they're called)! It was crazy! I was just so excited to be there and eager for what God had in store for me.

Some of the words we sang that night were, "to You along belongs the highest praise!" and, "We are here for You." Those lines really spoke to me because many other gods get praise, humans get praise, but the Lord God, and Him only, should get the highest praise. As I thought about why I was at Passion, it was because I wanted to become closer to God and experience Him an a more deeper way!

 Louie Giglio started off the first session by talking about how a 26-yr-old, Mark Zuckerberg, changed the world. According to Time magazine, he is the 2010 person of the year (view the article here). He is the creator of Facebook and is now a billionaire, but he lives rents his home, drives a normal car, and lives a normal life for having so much money. Time magazine says this:

"One of the interests Zuckerberg lists on his Facebook page is "Eliminating Desire." "I just want to focus on what we're doing," Zuckerberg says. "When I put it in my profile, that's what I was focused on. I think it's probably Buddhist? To me it's just — I don't know, I think it would be very easy to get distracted and get caught up in short-term things or material things that don't matter. The phrase is actually 'Eliminating desire for all that doesn't really matter.' " 

 It's like he kind of gets what being a Christian is all about but is missing the spiritual aspect, if that makes sense. Louie emphasized this quote about eliminating every desire for everything that doesn't matter in the end. This was really convicting to me because it made me ask myself, "am I doing things that won't matter in the end or am I investing my life in things that will matter and make a difference?" I prayed God would eliminate every desire that took my focus off of Him, especially while I was there, because I wanted to be fully focused on what He was going to do in my life the next for days. He speaks in a "still, small voice" and I didn't want to miss that focusing on looking for all the cute guys or admiring how well people preach or sing.

One of  the very first word in Philippians, Paul, indicates a new beginning. He used to be a persecutor of Christians until Christ changed his life 180 degrees. 2011 is a new year to make much of Christ and live our lives for him no matter what. It doesn't matter what happened in the past; start fresh today. Louie made the statement, "circumstances don't have any power over our lives, and they can't keep us from being free and fully alive. So many times I let what's happening around me dictate how I act and feel, but they don't hinder God in the slightest for what He will do so that He is glorified in the end. For who He is and all He has done for me, to Him alone belongs glory and the highest praise! What a reason worth living for!