Cooper began his talk with a cool story about how his five year old had an experience of Jesus at a youth conference, where he even said, “Dad, I think Jesus was inside of me.”
He then broke down the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus.
Cooper went on to tell us how in a few hours we will be heading home, and some may say that “you guys will be heading back into the real world”, but he exclaimed that he thinks that Steubenville is the real world. After this conference, we need to go back home and share what happened here with those that weren’t able to make it to this conference, because if we don’t share anything that happened here we’ve blown it.
He reminded us that we don’t have to be at a Steubenville Conference to experience Jesus because Jesus is not just here – He’s everywhere. Cooper made a clear point that in order to know Jesus, you should first know the Scriptures.
“Do not be yolked with unbelievers.” Cooper said this because we will be going home and he doesn’t want us to just return back to our lives back home and return to the temptations that come with it. Instead, we need to spend more time with the people we’ve experienced Jesus with here, then it will be much easier to be yolked with the believers. When it comes to Confession, do not wait until next year to experience the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Talk to the priest at your local parish and figure out a schedule to even do it at least once a month.
As his talk neared an end, he gave an example of the Kentucky Derby. One of the horses was nose to nose as they were making the final turn and the jockey just decided to let the reigns go and let the horse just run. This is much similar to how the Holy Spirit should be. Do not hold back the Holy Spirit and just be along for the ride. Let the it run through life and be free. Cooper wanted everyone to pray about how we’re going to let Jesus run through our lives and how we are going to share His good word when we get back home.
He ended his talk with a song that should to be our anthem whenever we leave this place, “All the Poor and Powerless.”
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