I have had the privilege of spending the last day in Atlanta with the crew for Passion 2010. Yesterday afternoon, we spent a good chunk of time in Phillips Arena, the main venue for the conference. We sat in the empty arena, where the Atlanta Hawks play, and it was staggering to think that some 20,000 college students will join us there in 50 days.
As we sat there, I remembered my own experiences at Passion Conferences as a student. I’ll borrow the words of Mark Batterson, who describes certain moments of our lives as thin places, where the line between heaven and earth seems very doesn’t seem very thick. Though God is everywhere all the time, it does seem like certain times and certain places we are more cognizant of His presence than others. That leads to today’s question:
“When and where have you experienced a ‘thin place’”?
**The goal of “One Question Friday” is simple: To show that everyone has something funny, engaging, creative, and worthwhile to say. So comment away! Be real. Be creative. Think hard. And check back to see how others answered the question.
Passion ‘05 was that moment for me. Attending as a ministry leader, I was blown away at the greatness of God. The event definitely set a course for the rest of my life. I often think back to those 3 days as one of the moments I heard from God the clearest.
This may seem a little funny to all you WT grads out there, but one of my thin moments was my first time at Thursday night worship (9:52, I believe). By the end of my college experience I began to resent the late nights, but that night it was as though I finally realized that I could relate to God apart from the influence of my family (a great influence). That night and there after, it was my choice and my privilege to worship the God of the universe.
3 places:
Passion OneDay 2000 @ Shelby Farms, TN
Garca, Brasil on mission trip
Birth of my daughter
On the edge of a cliff at Lake Degray in Arkansas. Sat for a couple of hours in silence just taking in the presence of God. It was beautiful, in more ways than one.