You Are The Salt And Light

Wow, what a weekend. Friday I got out of work early, and we headed to the conference. We did the first nights main session and workshop, went to the hotel to swim and have pizza with some friends, and hit the sack. We got up (one of us woke up sick..), ate, headed to the conference for the day, did some shopping, and headed home. Sunday came early with praise team practice, more sickness, some srambling, and a slow afternoon. Sunday night went ok, and ended late. Monday dawned with both of us sick, and was a lazy day. So all that said, my Tuesday once again feels like a Monday, and has started with me already exhausted. But I don't plan on letting all that get the best of me. Why? Because this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!

So here we go! This is the part where I tell you more details. Ready? =)

The ministry conference was fantastic, I'm so glad that Caleb and I got to go together this year. Friday night we were introduced to the keynote speaker, Dr. Charles Ware of Crossroads Bible College. He is a great speaker, and each message he gave us was not only challenging, but also very encouraging. His challenges were about truly being the salt and the light of the world. This year's theme was serving on main street, and he stated that what a better way to serve than to just be the salt and light, and love people. I can't even begin to go into all the things he shared with us, but I will share my favorite quote. I forget the whole context, but he was speaking on being bought or traded by mere humans. He was getting louder and louder, and his pitch higher and higher until he exclaimed; "You can't buy me fool', I 'been bought with the blood of Christ!" What an awesome reminder! (http://churchministriesconference.com/)

Then I had the privilege of going to two sessions led by Carrie Gaul, a woman from the organization called Revive Our Hearts (http://www.reviveourhearts.com/). One session was about how we truly live on Monday mornings when we're not at church, we don't want to be at work, we're annoyed by that co-worker, etc., and how we live out the gospel. The other was about how God sees us, as His daughters and dearly beloved children. Both were great sessions, and were very encouraging. It was refreshing to go to a few sessions that focused on my relationship with Christ. I was hesitant at first, knowing I was going to the conference to be equipped further for our student ministries, but I soon made the realization that I can't effectively minister to others if I'm run-down, weary, etc., so I gave in and was in turn truly blessed by the sessions I went to.

So, refreshed and renewed from the conference, we decided to spend the rest of the day down in the big city (well, big to me at least.. ) and look for some clothes. Well, that proved frustrating and exhausting. I couldn't find anything that I liked, that was modest, or affordable. So I was bummed, my feet hurt, and I was starting to not feel so great. We decided to give up and head home, so we headed that way, stopped for a bite to eat, and got home around 11pm. We crashed, then woke up for church. Caleb felt so terrible that he opened the building and went back home, and I had to be at church bright and early for praise team practice. Church went well, and I headed home for the afternoon. We ended up in the ER soon after, and got home around 4pm. Youth group was youth group, and I grabbed food, and retreated to the house with a migrane to see how Caleb was feeling.  Well, bed was late again and Caleb woke up feeling somewhat better, and my head was throbbing. I ate and then went back to bed until mid afternoon because I had a chiropractor appointment. After that, Caleb went to a seminar because he was feeling pretty good, and got home all chipper and energetic. Two hours later he was back on the couch feeling more lousy than before =( I hope he feels better soon!

That was our weekend, but here's something for the future. While at the conference, I learned of another conference by Revive Our Hearts that is this September. I follow a blog whose user if familiar with Revive Our Hearts and went to the conference, so I had started to get more and more familiar with it as well. I was thinking of attending a conference, but didn't think there would be one close enough. Welllll, the lady who led the two sessions told us that the one in September is in Idianapolis, which isn't super far away for me =) So maybe, just maybe, I'll be grabbing a good friend of mine and heading that way for the conference. Who knows.. I would love to go if I'm able =)