What's Right With the World

A few weeks back I got to attend the Willow Creek Arts Conference in South Barrington, Illinois. I knew a break from the kids and our everyday routine would be nice but I had no idea how refreshing it would be for my soul. We could not have started our trip better since we had a chance to ride first class. There is something about the ample leg room, drinks as soon as you sit down, warm coctail nuts and warm towel that helps you relax no matter what kind of turbulence you might be experiencing. After arriving in Chicago our friends Pete and Barb Kovacevich picked us up from the airport and drove us to Willow where their very generous nephew had loaned us his big, new, fabulous truck for us to drive around in. We met them through their son and daughter in law who used to live in San Diego but now live in Malaysia. They have become great, supportive friends and not only helped get us back to the airport at the end of the trip but even bought Rhett an outfit. We stayed with our friends Dan and Wendy. They have a full house with twin daughters and one son yet they are more hospitable than anyone I know. They have opened up their guest room to Rod on so many occasions its not even funny. When we were getting ready to leave I think I had one of my biggest learnings from my trip. This couple who has already been more than generous with us took the time to give even more by praying an amazing prayer over us for our family and our future. I wish I could have prayed for them if only I was not so choked up by their prayer. What an example of giving. It's so cool to have these rich friendships on the other side of the country.

Each session I attended was packed with great insight. I loved what the first speaker Dewitt Jones said about creativity, "creativity is a moment where we see opportunity, where we look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary." The next session was Nancy Beach. I've never listened to her and not learned something. My biggest take away from her session was actually a part of an interview she shared that Bill Hybels had with Bono. Bono said, "be honest with yourself and wrestle with reality. Don't put on a false image that all is well. Embrace darkness while pointing toward the light. Smack in the middle of contradiction is a great place to be." Dan Kimball was the next speaker. I've never heard him before but I think he has a very interesting message for the church. He says, "people that need Christ are mainly experiencing the most aggressive and loudest Christian voices while many "normal" Christians are stuck in church planning services." He also says, "the church is catching up with culture just not out in the world enough." The next day I sat in three break out sessions. The first one was Kem Meyer teaching on blogging but since I'm actually writing about this in a blog I've decided to make my notes on that a post on their own. My second break out was Mark Miller. How could I not love a guy who contributes to the success of Chic-fil-A. He is one creative, smart, funny dude. He said many great things but basically what I needed to hear was "expand your world- travel, study, read, new music, new relationships." The next day was Donald Miller and Erwin McManus. My favorite quote from Donald Miller was, "reason is a mystery. Justification for decison is different for everybody. The reality is much bigger than words can encompass." Erwin McManus always impresses me. He brought a ministry from his church called "Scribble" which was great. My favorite quote of his, "churchs should be asking instead of what kind of church do we want to become we should ask what kind of future do we want to create.

I purposely left out one of the breakouts because it was my favorite session of the conference and deserving its own paragraph. Rod, Kristi and I attended Emotionally Healthy Spirituality taught by Peter Scazzero. He is the pastor of New Life Fellowship in Queens, New York City. The main point of his talk was that it is not possible to be spritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. He shared his own personal story as well as many things he learned while spending four months in a monestary. I'm not going to even try and unpack what he talked about because I could not do it justice. I'm currently reading his book, "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality" and I can tell already it's going to have a huge impact on me. All I will say is read his book. You can also check out his website at http://www.emotionallyhealthychurch.com/. After his session I needed some time to myself to journal and really digest everything I had just heard. I decided to skip the last break out and go outside and take in some of the beauty right outside the doors of the conference. Willow Creek Community Church is on this amazing piece of property with their own lake and fountain. I found this tree (above left) and decided it was going to be my spot to stop and journal and thank God for this experience. Just like he did with the friendships I attended the conference with, our time with friends from Chicago, the amazing sessions I had an opportunity to soak up and learn, the quality time I had with my husband God met me again in this spot and refreshed my soul. The three pictures above were taken during this time. I found out what Dewitt Jones said was true, "life is really that beautiful if I have eyes to see it."