I was recently reminded that the #1 rule of blogging is to write and publish regularly. To some that’s once a week, and to others it might be once a day. I wish I could be so regimented. My Dad’s blog is updated every Thursday; you can just about set your clock by his blog. Not so with me and my blog. But hopefully, as the song goes, what I do share is “precious and few”.

There’s a song by Sting called “Heavy Cloud, No Rain”. And even having just returned from a truly remarkable week away with 77 students, I can’t say that there’s one thing that really is jutting out in my mind as to what I could share here. But if there were, it’d probably go something like this…

I just spent a full week that felt like a month in a place of discomfort, hard work, sweat, no privacy, and gloriously divine breakthroughs of God’s Spirit. It was awkward and awesome. It seems that I spent most of my time either behind the wheel of the minibus or behind the trigger of my megaphone, conveying information like: “It’s cabin devo time!”, “Everyone to the dining hall”, “Here’s Alex who’s going to do our bedtime prayer”, or “Hurry up! We’re waiting for YOU!”

But through it all, no matter what, there was an unmistakable knowledge that God was not only near, but here. No matter the environment, no matter the conversation, no matter the snag in the plans, no matter the tension, no matter the triumph, no matter the trial, God gifted us with a clear indication of His presence. And that to me was the best part of all.

Throughout the week, we had worship experiences each night (I hesitate to call them “services”). We went through Mark 4:1-9 and studied each soil type that Jesus talks about in “The Parable of the Sower”. The compacted soil on the path, the rocky soil, the weeds that choke, and the fertile soil. On the final night we talked all about the crop that Jesus spoke of; 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown. And we concluded with this question: “What is more important than eternity?” As humans we get so wrapped up in this world, our culture, our stuff, our status, our comfort, our image, our worth, and all the other things that serve as gods to us. But what will any of that matter in light of eternity? I dare you to find something that weighs more than eternity. If you do, please feel free to enlighten me, so that I don’t continue to waste my life on something that actually matters.