24 hours

(**Disclaimer: I'm not even going to address how flipping long it has been since I wrote...

onward and upward!)

Last weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Rockbridge for our annual "Prayer Overnight." There were over 800 of us packed into the club room, the dorms (for every 3 guys, only one had a mattress... chivalry is not dead, my friends), and the dining hall for 24 hours with a single purpose: to pray.

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name,

so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

John 14:13-14

Before life with Christ, I would have thought something like this weekend was a little weird (especially considering the fact that the majority of us were college aged or young adults- not just a group of little old ladies in a circle, knitting). We fasted for 24 hours and focused (as much as our little human bodies would allow) on sitting at the Lord's feet and asking for whatever we believed would bring glory to his name. We worshipped, we prayed (silently, out loud, and collectively), we listened (to those leading our region, each other, and mostly the Lord), we prayed (over the camp and our neighboring areas), we fasted, we prayed through the night (my shift was from 4-4:30am) for every middle and high school kid in our region, and then we broke our fast together on Sunday.

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."

John 15:7

Young Life is such a special group of people, but I never quite feel like I fit in (especially when the crowds number close to 900). However, this weekend I got to see some of my favorite people in the entire world: Susan and Jamie! Susan was MY Young Life leader in high school and it is completely the Lord's prompting and her example that led me to move to Waynesboro and continue leading after college when so many of my friends could not wait to (for lack of a better word) quit. Susan has been such a gift from day one- she is so faithful and has an overwhelming peace and joy about her. She is honestly the leader I want to be. Jamie was my teammate for 3 1/2 years before he went on Young Life staff and moved to Fredericksburg- I hadn't seen him since August! Our lives are all so busy that catching up is tough to coordinate- a few days (sometimes even weeks) of phone tag is always to be expected. Because of the structure of the weekend, I only got to spend about 15 minutes of quality time with these two friends, but gosh, those minutes were refreshing!

My absolute favorite part of the weekend was when we each "adopted" an area to pray for over throughout the next year. Not only was this a cool idea, but it gave me chills to watch JMU leaders go crazy over the opportunity to pray for Virginia Tech leaders and to see Virginia Tech leaders leap up at the chance to pray for UVA leaders, etc. That is what the body of Christ is meant to look like! When the Valley (where I lead) was given the responsibility of praying over Roanoke for the next year my heart nearly burst with joy. In an email to my team I wrote, "I am beyond psyched for our adopted area!! It is the sweetest thing ever to feel called here and to live here, but to be able to (and encouraged to) pray for my hometown!" It put a lump in my throat to think about all of my leader friends here praying for my home and high school.

I know it's been a fruitful weekend when I come home with pages upon pages filled in my journal and a renewed passion to "go." Some of my other favorites from the weekend:

If you preach Christ, you get community; if you preach community, you get chaos.

Prayer is not the blessing before the meal; it is the meal itself.

When Jesus is lifted up, he unites us.

Jesus is Love Personified and Love Mystified.

(a guy prayed this at one point during the weekend- I loved it.)

Kids walk away when I lead them to Christ.

Kids stay when Christ draws them to himself.

"'Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,' says the Lord Almighty."

Zechariah 4:6

We're not about a lot of 'activity'- a fish out of water is very active, but it is dying!

We are one beggar telling other beggars where we found food.

"If you're a christian- WAKE UP YOUR FACE!" -Scott Hamilton (Regional Director)

It's never going to be 'someone else's job' to follow Jesus and make disciples of all nations.

Thought: Someone once prayed that YL would start in the Valley. Someone once specifically prayed that YL would come to Waynesboro High School. Do I believe that I am an answer to someone's prayers? (usually not.)

My sin is NOT greater than God's grace.

My teammates and I "waking up our faces" (:

It is not cliche to say that prayer is powerful! It is such a gift- but it is not limited to times when there are 900 people gathered-

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Matthew 18:20

Jesus is just as real in Waynesboro, VA as he is at Rockbridge- and that is something that I forget so easily. I came home with excitement and a renewed passion to "go" and sometimes prayer is the only available avenue (more on that later).

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,

so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Hebrews 4:16

I promise it won't be so dang long until next time- but until then...

Prayerfully,

B