1.01.2007

New Years Day thoughts...

It's New Years' Day and I'm parked in the newly reconfigured prayer room. Perhaps reconfigured is too strong a word, but let's just say it looks nothing like it looked when we moved the prayer room to the conference center a few days ago. Web streamers will knowwhattamean.

On a day when most of the country's efforts are dedicated to eating a second holiday turkey (or mourning Gerald Ford or James Brown...), we're here in the prayer room, about 400 strong right now. Why start out a year this way? Surely coming off a 15,000 person, four day conference, it could be argued that we should take a day off. This meetings been going on for over 7 years already...yet we're here, because we're not sure what this year holds.

At my onething breakout a few days ago, I referenced Luke 19. To give you a bit of context, Jesus is talking to the religious leaders of the day, admonishing them for missing the key spiritual happening of their lifetime and prepping them for the destruction to come.
Luke 19:43,44
For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
That word visitation can also be interpreted inspection. They suffered greatly because they failed to recognize what God was doing in their day, and that His plan included a very real inspection that would reveal their lack. It's hard to tell what 2007 holds. Who knew on 1/1/06 what Gerald Ford, James Brown, or Saddam Hussein are very gravely aware of today. For some, if not all, this will be a year of visitation...a year of inspection.

The prayer room is making more and more sense. So is Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around.

2 comments:

Matt Lockett said...

I was just listening to that song right before I read today's entry. C'mon! Let's sing that one in church, then try to take up an offering.

Anonymous said...

I was a bit shocked when I turned on the webstream this morning, but I have decided I like the lights changing in the backround. They just need to angle the camera a little more to the left of the stage so I can see the singers again.