3-22/the words in red...

good morning today is day 11

of my lenten project.

it is also friday, march 22, 2013.

i want to welcome you.

i felt GOD's presence in that van.

i KNEW we were on the cutting-edge

of doing GOD's will...

by stepping out of our comfort zone

with this new church 

science.

~@~

i was the youngest member

of our purpose driven team.

most of the team were in their 40's and 50's;

i had just turned 30.

because they were older than i,

i assumed they were all born-again-Christians.

i assumed they had a far more mature

relationship with GOD than i had.

i assumed GOD placed me there

to learn from them.

i made those assumptions based

on the fact that they were older than i was,

they were all (so far as i knew)

life-long church goers,

i knew them to be the movers and shakers

of our church,

and...

i was possibly the only one of the bunch 

who had never held a church office.

~@~

when we arrived at the hotel,

we unpacked, freshened up,

and met back at the van.

there were several who hadn't come up in the van.

they met us there and rode over to the convention with us.

i had no idea what i was in for...
the only church i'd really ever known
was a church steeped in tradition,
bound by ritual.
i wondered to myself
what this new church of thought was
and how it was going to be different
from the church i'd grown to know.

when we arrived,
we made our way down a rather long hallway
to the convention area.
the area was already full.
there was a huge projector screen
with a contemporary music video streaming on it.
thankfully, the words to the music were also on it...
as i'd never before heard the song.
but i liked it...  
there was so much energy in that room!

GOD.WAS.THERE.

~@~

after a brief introduction,
we were told to partner with someone
from our designated table
and pray for one another.
so, i prayed for david,
and david prayed for me.

afterwards,
the leaders detailed how the conference would ensue.
then we began what was planned for the evening.
we were asked to outline the highlights/low-lights
of our lives to present
so we could see where we had been...
so we could see how we had gotten
to where we currently were.
then they asked us
to quickly write down our favorite bible verse.

i panicked!
i didn't have a favorite bible verse!!
i hadn't read them all yet!!!

but, i knew all of JESUS' words were in red,
 JESUS' time on earth was chronicled
in the gospels of
matthew, mark, luke, and john,
and that they were located 
closer to the end of the bible.

"GOD, help me find a good one,"
i prayed,
"quickly!"

GOD as my witness,
i opened my bible
to find

my.new.favorite.bible.verse.
(my.GOD-chosen.bible.verse.)

the only verse
with JESUS' words in red
on the two visible 
pages.
furthermore,
 it wasn't located in
matthew, mark, luke, or john...
but in 
the second book
of 
corinthians...

three times I pleaded with the LORD to take it away from me.  but HE said to me, "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that CHRIST's power may rest on me. (niv 2 corinthians 12:8-9)

perfect!
thankyouGOD!

love and God's blessings,
dani xxx