Month: December 2012

Ephesians {A Passion retrospective}

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I didn’t see this at Passion 2012, but, oh, I heard about it. I was out in my official position to direct the foot traffic of 40,000+ students as they left the Georgia Dome and entered the Georgia World Congress Center to get their lunches. I was talking to a couple of other volunteers when one of the volunteer stationed about 10 yards away came over, walking rather quickly.

“You have to see this!” he said, looking intently at his smartphone.

“What?”

“They’re reading Ephesians. They’ve been doing it for, like, ten minutes now.”

He then explained that a section was being read and then the students were quiet as they reflected on what they heard.

Today, I am on the road to Passion 2013 (God willing, as this post is being scheduled at the beginning of November!). Take some time today as 2012 comes to a close and listen to Lecrae, Beth Moore, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan and John Piper read the letter of Paul to the Ephesians to you.

A Song for Sunday: All This Glory

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It’s almost a new year. Tomorrow, I will be leaving bright and early in the morning to head to Atlanta and Passion 2013. This time, I’m taking a college student from our church along. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us both.

Here’s the final “Song for Sunday” in my special retrospective through the Passion conferences at which I have volunteered. It’s David Crowder Bank onstage together for the last time.

Fruitcake and Ice Cream {A Passion retrospective}

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The video below isn’t directly from a Passion event, but it is a Passion talk from the Passion regionals. It may not be exactly the same as I heard in February 2008 in Washington, DC with my mini-Bible study group of girls or in Atlanta in April of the same year.

It’s a story of amazing grace that really sticks with you. In fact, one of my former students just wrote me a note recently and included a declaration, “Always a fruitcake!”

The best quality I could find included an introduction and a conclusion from a pastor using the video during a service. Hope that’s not too distracting.

Fruitcake and Ice Cream – Louie Giglio – September 2, 2012 from 4 Points Church on Vimeo.

Satisfaction {A Passion retrospective}

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It dawned on me that this is going to be one busy week. Yesterday was Christmas and, before that, all the hustle and bustle leading up to that day. Today I go to work. In the next five days, I will have to go to work, pack for Passion 2013 and get the car ready for the almost 12-hour trip to Atlanta.

Inspired by the “Song for Sunday” posts, I decided to feature snippets from messages at Passion events at which I volunteered. For the most part, I tried to go with a short clip that you could incorporate into your Hello Mornings routine or watch quickly as you’re surfing. There will be a couple of longer ones, though.

We’ll start with the first 15 minutes of Louie Giglio’s message from Passion 2006 in Nashville.

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep

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No one remembers – or is alive who remembers – if it was cold in New England on Christmas Day in 1863, but the country itself was in the cold grip of the Civil War. Long years of war had taken its toll on homes both Union and Confederate. This Christmas, sons were at war or imprisoned or dead or injured or ill.

Henry’s son, Charley, had been one of the injured and the ill, surviving both a bout of malaria and a bullet wound in the back.  A single father of five who lost his wife when her clothes accidentally caught fire a few years earlier, Henry had been heartbroken but resigned when Charley ran away to join the Union Army.

“I shall not send for him,” Henry wrote in his journal. “He is where he wants to be, in the midst of it all.”

Nonetheless, he crossed through army lines to reach to his son’s bedside when he  was wounded in late November 1863 and brought him home.

Henry may have recalled the pain not only of his own grief and concern, but also that of a nation when he penned his poem, Christmas Bells on that Christmas Day. Continue reading →

Struck by the wonder of a faithful God

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Grammy was not happy when she sat down next to me at church.

“I lost my hearing aid,” she said.

I knew what this meant. Even with the hearing aid, she barely could hear the pastor. Today, she would hear nothing and, yet, she came because it was that important for her to be with God’s people.

Thankfully, the service hadn’t started yet so I said loudly, into her better ear, “I’ll come home with you after church and look for it.”

When I arrived at her house, I asked the obvious question, “Where were you when you lost it?”

“In the yard,” she replied.

The yard? That big, double lot?

Needle meet haystack.

She pointed me to an area where she had been doing some yard work. I slowly started walking back and forth in the area and suddenly, inexplicably quckly, I found it.

“Oh!” Grammy exclaimed. “God led you right to it.”

Grammy’s like that. These litte, everyday experiences are tiny displays of God’s majestic grace and a sign of his deep care for even the mundane parts of our lives.

That’s also the message of Margaret Feinberg’s new book that releases on Christmas Day.

The new book and 7-session Bible Study called Wonderstruck: Awaken to the Nearness of God is a personal invitation for you to toss back the covers, climb out of bed, and drink in the fullness of life. Wonderstruck will help you:

  • Recognize the presence of God in the midst of your routine
  • Unearth extraordinary moments on ordinary days
  • Develop a renewed passion for God
  • Identify what’s holding you back in prayer
  • Discover joy in knowing you’re wildly loved

 To learn more, watch the Wonderstruck Video:

A Sneak Peek At Wonderstruck from Margaret Feinberg on Vimeo.

Follow Margaret’s snarky, funny, and inspirational posts on Twitter, Facebook, or her blog. You can learn more about this great book by visiting www.margaretfeinberg.com/wonderstruck where she’s offering some crazy promos right now with up to $300 of free stuff. I’ve seen the book for as low as $7.57 ($14.99 retail) on Barnes & Noble  for all you savvy shoppers.


So where have you seen the wonder of God in your life?