just do it

This was a good weekend. If you follow me on twitter (@los_lupe) then you know I went to something called the Right Now conference. It was a great experience with like a thousand (I am bad at estimates) other Christians listening to speakers like Kay Warren, Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Donald Miller, Anne Jackson, and Tim Ross (those are the ones I heard, but there were more). We were also led in some great worship by Kari Jobe. She was a bouncy gal with a big voice, and she sure seemed to love her some Jesus.
As did all of the speakers. God put some great words on their hearts, and used them to get those same words to those of us at the conference. That’s what God does, he works things out so that the right people hear the right message from the right mouths. From Kay I was reminded of the pain out in the world, and that I need to set aside my own personal kingdom and serve His. Franky Chan reminded us that we can’t do anything, but God can do anything and he does it through us. He made us His righteousness, and offers us Himself. Read 2 Peter 1:1-5 (where Chan’s sermon came from), it’s good stuff. Then Chandler made us laugh occasionally, and hard, as he reminded us of the Resurrection and just what it meant. He reminded us how God took our sins on the cross, all of them, and rose victoriously from the dead. He reminded us that nothing we do surprises God and that he took care of it all a couple thousand years ago. He reminded us just how amazing the Resurrection is; not just in how it happened, or that it happened, but what it accomplished. Sin lost. When we look to Jesus in his life, death, burial, AND resurrection, ,sin loses it’s grip on our lives. Donald Miller took us to school and explained how the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet is an analogy (or metaphor, I can never remember) for what it means to become a Christian. He pointed out that this is a relationship. That we give up ourselves to take on a relationship with Christ, and we are made new in this relationship. Tim Ross (I know, out of order) reminded us all that the Bible says we need to die. He says that people who are still alive aren’t living. It’s when we die to ourselves that God begins to use us. Finally, Anne Jackson is why I am writing again. I listened to her talk on using social media to spread His word. She talked about the importance of a blog in reaching others with Christ’s message through the art of storytelling. With a blog, or twitter, or whatever, we followers of the One True God, can tell others of the work He is doing all around the world. We can use blogs to inform each other of the pain in the world. We can use blogs to mobilize Christians to do what Jesus told us to do, love others! But we have to actually write. And we have to do it well.
I’ve not done a very good job of telling the story of this weekend. And I don’t know if I will in the future with other stuffs, but I’ll try. I’ve said this before, and I may have to say it again, but I’m gonna try once again to keep at this.
One thing I would like to say is, help someone. Help someone in need. That was the cool thing about this whole conference. I have been to plenty where we talked about the importance of assisting those in need, but then we all go home and go back to our luxurious lives (if you live in America and have a job, you are living a life of luxury compared to the hurt around the world). At this one, we took a break from listening to put together equipment packages for World Vision to give to caregivers of AIDS victims. There were representatives from different organizations that go and help those in need. They did some great recruiting to find people to give and to go. Compassion International got sponsors for nearly 200 children around the world. You can do the same for like 40 bucks a month. I am about to sign up with World Vision to sponsor either a child, or even a whole family. Just do something! By eating a few sandwiches instead of an expensive meal, we can keep a kid from dying. It takes so little effort from us in America to do so much around the world. As Christians, it is our responsibility.
This wasn’t the best post, but I meant it. And it’s getting a little long, so I’ll end it. Maybe I’ll be able to come back and be a little less rusty and tell a much better story, but for now, go do something!