Flashback to 2012 when I took the kiddos to Precept for the first time...
before I had the sense to take a group picture and not just a random shot of half our group.
When I thought about taking the kids to the Transform Student Conference 2013, I was exhausted by the thought. On top of my crazy schedule, we had to raise half the funds to take our whole group. The money issue was enough for me to take the easy way out and bail ("Next year, kiddos!"), but God provided and I was once again blown away by people's generosity. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated.
Now we had the moolah and all I had to do was make it through the weekend without one of my kiddos burning down Precept Ministries on accident.
(That was sarcasm in case you thought I was serious.)
No, we didn't burn anything down. But this awesomeness happened on the first night. Makes my heart ridiculously happy that someone captured this precious moment.
Photo taken by Transform Student Ministries.
The next day someone captured a photo that is not quite as spiritual as the one above, but I die every time I look at it. Jamal aka Mr. Popular surrounded by his adoring fans as he blows a bubble inside of a bubble. This just sums up the fun and fellowship everyone has in between studying God's word at Precept.
They had announced that there would be a late night concert with As Isaac later that night and I was trying to decide if we would stay or head home early. All the kiddos were staying at my family's house and the thought of leaving early and squeezing in an extra hour of sleep sounded great to me, but I wanted the kids to choose.
During lunch I asked the kids, "So do you wanna go to the concert tonight?" Then trying to be funny I threw in, "Or we could just go to my house and and read the Bible and talk about what we learned today!"
*cue Veggie Tales music*
To my utter amazement, the kids jumped on that idea. "YES!" They said. "That would be amazing!"
"Wait. Ya'll want to go home and read the Bible?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes!" They nodded excitedly.
So we did. We skipped the concert and headed home and sat around the fire place. We took turns sharing what God had taught us that weekend and we all cried. Even the boys. Some of the things shared were:
"I cried during worship. I don't know why, but I just started crying."
"I felt God touching my heart."
"What if I listened to God and did what He wants me to do instead of listening to my friends. I've made a lot of bad choices following my friends instead of God."
I even shared and started bawling and in the middle of my story I looked up and saw the kids crying with me. They cried over what God was doing in my life. Y'all. I get chills just pondering over that.
The last day of the conference was bittersweet, as it always is. I did remember to get a group photo though!
Our group was the bomb. We were far from perfect (who isn't?), but God still managed, in the midst of our craziness and flaws, to confront each of us with His glory and power.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27
