Good morning daughters of grace. Normally I share a recipe or something like that but today I want to share with you my Alive experience. Last week I had the honor of attending the Alive festival for the fourth year in a row, with my youth group. Yes, I could tell you about all the concerts (Trip Lee, Crowder and Chris Tomlin were my favorites). I could tell you about the amazing seminars and speakers (OMGOSH - Jefferson Bethke, Trip Lee, The Skit Guys, Clayton King, Matt Chandler). I could even tell you about the games of cornhole and Uno or the torrential rains we laughed our ways through. Instead I want to share something else about Alive.
As this is my fourth year at Alive I’m starting to feel like an old hand at it. I know what to expect and where things are. We know where we want to camp and who has the best fries and ice cream. All of that is wonderful but two completely different events took place for me this year at Alive.
First - I went to the baptism service. Forgive me because I forgot my camera so I have no pictures but I’d like to write a picture for you. Imagine hundreds of people standing at a lake watching around 60 family, friends and strangers run into the lake to be baptised in Jesus’ name. People crying out to God and making a profession of faith under clear skies. People who aren’t afraid of what others are going to say because they have been touched by the Father. Hear the solo guitarist/performer with just his guitar and one speaker singing worship songs . . . “Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that You’re my God.” See the people joining in the worship and celebrating as people come up from the crisp water and waving arms in the air because they know they have been made new. Watch as a mother and her daughters are baptized together. Stand there as the service is over but people aren’t really moving because God’s presence is so heavy that no one wants to leave. I didn’t know one person who was being baptized but I do know that each one of them is my brother and sister in Christ. It was an experience.
Lastly, every year that we attend Alive we make new friends and it’s a blessing! I have facebook friends from West Virginia and Southern Ohio who I met at Alive. We even met a young lady two years ago who ended up joining our church. This year was different though. We met an amazing group from Southern Ohio that was camping next to us. For some reason our two groups became one. They started joining us for devotionals and games. We, of course, shared our various camp resources (lighters, garbage bags, etc) but most importantly we talked and worshipped together. Saturday night was so precious. After Chris Tomlin closed out the night we built a camp fire and roasted s'mores. Then God came into the picture. Their youth leader, Seth, brought out some guitars and we started singing. I sing at church but I’m normally a little timid. That night no one cared. We worshiped for 2 ½ hours. We were up late but I’m sure it sounded beautiful to the Lord. I know it was amazing for us. The next morning as we prepared to leave we prayed together and for each other. We arrived as two separate youth groups but left as a family. A few of us are even driving down this weekend to join them for service and they are planning to come up here for the Fest in August.
Alive is not just concerts and workshops. It’s not just about a lake and kids playing. It’s an experience. It’s about God moving like never before. It’s about meeting Him there. If you have never attended pray about going next year (June 17-20, 2014). Have a amazing week and be sure to take some time to meet up with your Father.
