Okay. Tuesday at Encounter was awesome.
The first class we went to was called Zero. He brought out a pringles can, and it was one of those low-fat, 50% less calories, sour cream and onion, delicious cans. It looked good on the outside with all those "positive features", but when you read the ingredients, is it so good? Is that how we are sometimes? We look so good, so healthy, so positive, so much in love with God, but...are we? We try so hard to look so, but on the inside we are something completely different. He then proceeded to bring out a water bottle. Zero calories, zero grams of fat, zero zero zero. Completely transparent and pure, clean. Isn't that how we SHOULD be? People should be able to look at us and see who we really are on the inside, and the outside. The tough question from that class was this: "Would you be the same if God didn't exist?" The answer for most people is kind of sad, because they'd say no.. I know for me, my life would be dramatically different for the most part, but I know there are parts of my life that wouldn't be different...
The second class we went to was called Beautiful Things. This was Evan's and Marshall's class. There were 3 pots: Brad, Hannah, and Jacob. Brad was a nerdy, quiet kid who didn't talk to many people. Brad was addicted to porn. Hannah was the sweet, well-raised girl who everyone loved. Her parents sang to her and read to her when she was little, and they raised her to be a good person. But yet she felt insecure and broken. Jacob was the perfect kid. He did everything right and he lived the perfect Christian life and everyone looked up to him. But he had leukemia. How could something so tragic happen to him? He's living out the Christian life, yet he has to go through this. After each story, the pot was broken. Smashed into pieces. Even though each person was completely different, they were all the same in one way: they were broken. But God takes us in our broken stages and He makes something beautiful. They represented this by pushing all the broken pots together and formed a cross. Even when you feel absolutely down and broken inside, God will take those pieces and make something beautiful. Like the song says, "God makes beautiful things."
The third class of the day was called Fight of Your Life. Honestly, we only went to that class because it was in the lobby of our dorm and we wanted to be able to go straight to our room to take a nap. But really, that class was awesome. And not because we got to watch guys duke it out in the boxing ring. (That was pretty cool, though). The point of this class was to get back up when you're knocked down. Like in TobyMac's song, he says,
"We lose our way,
We get back up again
It's never too late to get back up again,
One day you will shine again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever."
When we get knocked down, we get back up again. We won't be down forever, because God is there to help us up! Walking the Christian walk really is the fight of your life. Satan does everything in his power to mess it up, but we have to fight him. He can't win.
The song I chose for today is "Here In This Place".
"Lay your burdens down,
Every care you carry.
And come to the fountain of God
For there is mercy.
Come just as you are,
We are all unworthy
To enter the presence of God,
For he is holy."
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