really good day yesterday, for the most part. still a bit rollercoastery at times.

the general sessions have gone really well this year. we haven’t had a dog speaker in the bunch (woof). and the singing-worship (as i’ve said a few times already) is just stunning — breathtaking. after louie giglio talked last night, chris tomlin came back on stage by himself (no band) and led a couple mellow songs; and the beauty of those thousands of voices singing was overpowering. at the end, chris just backed away and left the stage while people finished the song. no one had come up to the edge of the stage in rock-concert mode; a few people were standing throughout; but, in general, there was a stunned sense of awe that came over the whole arena. i stepped on stage to close the session, and it just felt wrong to speak. it felt like i would be violating sacred space to interject my own words about the session being over and when to come back for the third day concert tonite, blah, blah. so i just stood there, and the room was completely silent (this wasn’t a ‘choice’ on my part, as much as a non-choice — i really wasn’t sure what to do!). i think it will become one of the best memories of the convention for me.

i also had a great time with a packed room (aren’t they all packed rooms here?) for my middle school small groups seminar yesterday. great group of very engaged people — it’s always a life-giving thing for me to be in a room full of people who are called to ministry with young teens. although, the guy sitting right in front of me (in the front row) waving a toilet plunger at my through the whole seminar freaked me out a little bit!

i had a great meeting last evening. i’ve blogged here before about the ‘accountability’ group i am in called Young Notorious Sinners. there are 8 of us, all over north america; and we meet once a year for four days. we’ve done this for three years, and hope to be meeting like this for the rest of our lives. 7 of the 8 happened to be at the convention (well, 2 made the trek because 5 were going to be there). actually, the 8th was here also, but had to leave before we met. we had four hours together last night, getting caught up on each others’ lives. the commitment to one another in this group is a gift from god.

was hoping to get to bed by midnight, but got into a series of important conversations, and didn’t get to bed until 1:45am. i’m speaking in the closing general session in an hour, and don’t really feel up to it right now. but i’m completely confident god will show up.