Well, I just got back from the One Day '03 trip this morning at about 2 am, and what a trip it was. It was fun, challenging, messy, hard, convicting, hot, wet, worshipful, itchy, etc. It would be difficult to share every event and memory, but I will try my best to hit the highlights.

The Road to One Day- We got on the road about 5pm on Friday. 18 hours away from our destination, and we were pumped! Not far down the road we popped in the Acclimate CD that we received in the mail from Passion (to prepare our hearts for what God was going to do). The Cd led us through a time of worship, prayer for each other, confession, scripture reading, and encouragement. It was a great time of fellowship in the car. I have to say that the most difficult part of the whole Acclimate Cd was the confession. It's not always easy for me to confess my sins and short comings to others, but I have to say that it was truly a freeing and refreshing experience to know that my friends, who desire for me to run the race in purity and righteousness, were hearing me out and praying for God to change me. Another very encouraging part of the Acclimate CD that ministered to me was a Spoken Word/Rap by Amena Brown entitled:

You
You find me
When I'm hiding behind all my disguises
You see me
It takes You to keep me breathing
You are Heart, Passion, Vision
You send me and bring me close, close, close
So close till when You look at me
You see YOU
You are heavenly
My present and future destiny
You are Father, Creator, Sustainer, Life Changer, Pride Breaker
You are the same yesterday, now, and forever
You are Pleasure, Worth, Reason,
Present in every season
You are worship, devotion
You are the reson for all my comotion
You are the one that I pray to
You can tell that I'm nothing without You
So awesome that I can even pray to You
About You
To know You more
To Sense You more
To believe You more
To love You more
To give You more of my heart
OH GOD!
Search me
Know me
See me
Examine me
Test me
Watch me
Investigate me
Question me
Be pleased with me
Have me
Change me
Sustain me
DECREACE ME, Decreace Me, decreace me
Till there is NO me left
Only You, Only You, Only You
Are Light
Are True
Are You
Are Hope
Are Joy
Are Strength
Are Escape, Rescue, Safe
You are Peace
You are belief
You are advance and retreat
Of what, To what
To whom can I compare You
You are my all things new
You are my place of refuge
My fortress
My rest
My creativity in the strength of Your words to me
You are my ability to see, hear, feel, move, live, breath, be
You are life and death all at the same time
You are friend, believer, Savior, Redeemer,
You are the truth,
You transend old age and youth
You are timeless, Priceless, Lightness in Darkness, Greatness, Goodness, Sinless,
And in a mess like my life, You see righteousness
In fact, You leave me speachless
You alone are God!"


Divine Appointment - 6 hours into the trip, God gave us a divine appointment. Josh was chewing gum and decided he was going to throw it out the window, but after he rolled it down, it would NOT go back up. we tried everything we could while driving down there interstate, but nothing would work, so we pulled off to try to fix it. We were not in the Micky D's parking lot a minute when a homeless guy walks up to us and starts talking to us. God opened the door wide open for us to share with him about the Lord. After about 30 minutes of the guys doing their best to take my car apart and put it back together so that the window would work, we decided to give up and try to go somewhere to find better tools to fix it (Kmart). So we said our goodbyes to our homeless friend. The guys were still outside the car saying their goodbyes and I climbed in the drivers seat and started the car. I wispered, "Lord, please help us get this window up." I tried it one last time, and it immediately went up!!! You know, that window has been working perfectly ever since!

After 8 states (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas) and 18 hours, we started seeing signs for One Day. They led us to a 400-acre farm in Bells, TX. The farm had beautiful rolling hills, cute little ponds, and a small, quaint white church.

The Camping Experience - For months before the event, people had been praying that God would "show up" and reveal Himself. Saturday was our first night of camping there, and that night will forever be etched in my brain as the night that God "SHOWED UP." It started when Josh and I were walking up the hill. As we crested the top of the hill, we started to hear a thunder, and then with out any warning a wall of rain moved quickly toward us. We turned around and darted back down the hill. I almost lost my reefs trying to run down the hill fast enough. We got a bit wet, but not too bad considering what COULD have happened us, and DID happen to Ben. After about 5 minutes of torrential down pour, Ben shows up at the tent soaked to the bone. So there we were, in the guy’s tent, wet. That's when I turned to the guys and said, "Making Memories, right?" That phrase became something I would repeat several times throughout the event. As the storm continued, the winds picked up and thunder and lightening increased. Then all in one gust of wind, our tent partially collapsed. SO out in the rain we went to get it back up. It was an ordeal, and by the end we were ALL soaked to the bone in the tent stationed at our positions. Ben, on the floor holding the stakes in, Josh standing, holding the poles, and me, camera in hand snapping "memories". After what seemed like an eternity of raining cats and dogs, someone ran by tents yelling, "Golf ball size hail is coming. Take cover!" That's when we decided to gather as many belongings as we could and abandon the tents. We took off toward the car (along with tons of other campers.) The beautiful, rolling hills were quickly becoming mushy, muddy muck. I slip and slid all the way to the car. We sat in the car for a while trying to decide what the best thing to do was. We were still there the next morning. When it was all said and done, and 7 waves of thunderstorms had passed over us, we assessed the damage. Our tents were still standing, but everything was soaked. We were some of the lucky ones. Making Memories! That next day was beautiful and our stuff dried out. The rest of the camping experience turned out to be quite pleasant.

The Volunteer Experience - Volunteering was fun, but hard. It required long hours and early morning rising, but it was truly a blessing to get to talk to so many college students. I met people from all over the US. As a volunteer I didn't get to participate in "corporate worship" as much as I would have liked, that was a bummer, but there is a time to serve and a time to participate. I felt clearly that God said that this was a time to serve. The whole experience helps me to appreciate how much selfless work goes into an event like that. I want to give major props to my Orange Gate Touch Team Leaders. Thank you guys for allowing me to serve by your serving me. You guys are awesome!

The Word Tower - Up until Monday (Memorial Day) No one was actually allowed on the ONE DAY field. It was being prepared for our sacred gathering. Starting on Saturday night God's Word was read from a mic over the field from a tower 24/7 until the Monday gathering. It was incredible to wake up hearing the Word of God being read in many different languages.

One Day Services - The One Day gathering was not intended to be a Spiritual High but more of a spring board. Not something that ended, but more of a beginning. Many were called to missions. Personally the speakers at One Day challenged me greatly. There aren't a ton of specific things I remember about what they said, but one thing that God has pressed into me is this phrase - complete abandonment of self. God opened my eyes to areas of my life that I was holding onto my own will and desires. We were on our way home, and we were listening to Shane Barnard and Shane Everett "Carried Away" CD and God gripped my heart through some of the lyrics...

"Trading all that I have, for all that is better" (Is there anything that I could even think to have that is better than what God is and has?)
"Use me, Break me, Waste me on you, Lord." (Oh, to be able to say that my life was poured out for the pleasure and glory of the Lord.)
"Less of me is more of Jesus." (From Amena Brown, "DECREASE ME, Decrease Me, decrease me, till there is NO me left, Only You...)

Nashville Experience- On the way home we decided to take the northern route and stop in Nashville where Josh's aunt, uncle, and cousin reside. We got in late Tuesday night and hit the sack. Wednesday we got up and had a nice time of relaxing and eating breakfast outside. It was beautiful. Then Susan took us on a tour of Nashville. What great fun! Saw some cool stuff (Ryman, Wild Horse Saloon, Gibson Bluegrass Showcase, Hard Rock Cafe...) Took some cool pics...