Esther, from Omaha, Nebraska is a recent high school graduate who shared with all of us tonight how God has changed her prayer life.
When she was a freshman in high school she attended this exact same youth conference, but coming into the conference her prayer life was not very strong; she felt like she didn’t know how to pray, and that her prayers just weren’t that important. She was restless, lacked peace, and felt disconnected from the Lord.
Rachel loves movies, especially those epic movies in which our heroes lay down their lives so that others might live: Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, and even Inside Out (from which she showed us an awesome clip).
In John 3:16 we read:
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
This powerful verse proclaims the most heroic story ever told; and though we never tire of seeing other versions of heroic self-sacrifice on the big screen, sometimes the most powerful version of all – that of God’s love revealed on the Cross – can lose its impact. Maybe because we’ve heard the story so many times, it seems like it’s not that big of a deal and we can learn nothing new about it. But God always wants to teach us more, and He is always willing to do something new within each one of us if we let Him.
In his session this afternoon, Jimmy speaks on truth. In his talk he gives us permission to wrestle with the truth, but urges us not to settle for less than it. Jimmy Mitchell: Truth Revealed Jimmy is from Nashville and is founder of Love Good, a company which supports and invests in artists and songwriters with the goal of evangelizing culture with beauty that is rooted in truth. The logo for this company is a heart with an arrow through it. Beauty pierces the heart and, once wounded, the heart cannot help but want to trace that wound back to it’s source. The wound often in our culture is truth. The source? God.
Fr. Dave began his talk this afternoon by reminding us that God has a plan for our lives, our lives are not random and that every individual matters.
You are more than your body
Fr. Dave reminded us that you are more than just a body. Your body is only a part of you. You are flesh and soul, and that’s what makes you human. They are important because your body and soul make you who you are. You have a body and a soul and Jesus Christ delights in that. He referenced Chris Pratt’s recent MTV awards speech last month when Pratt said “you have a soul, take care of it.”
