Wednesday

My last full day of conference, I did the usual prayer meeting and breakfast. Then after some singing of Psalms, Pastor Donnelly spoke on "Living out our calling." One point that hit me was when he spoke about the sinfulness of trying to escape the Earth. I realized that I have not really been content with my life down here, and a lot of my time is spent hoping that I will die as soon as possible and thereby gain Heaven that much sooner. It's not that I hate life, it's just that I would much rather be living in perfection. But God has a current purpose for my life now, and I need to focus on obeying that call. Who am I? That I should think myself worthy enough to shun my fellow man and fly to the arms of my Savior without so much as even trying to bring one or two with me? As Thomas Watson said: "Had we the kingdom of heaven as soon as ever grace was infused, then God would lose much of His glory. ... Where would be the active service we are to do for God? Would we have God give us a kingdom and we do nothing for Him before we come there? Would we have read before labor, a crown before victory? ... Paul was content to stay out of heaven awhile that he might be a means of bringing others thither." After the college class we had lunch, and most of the college group went to Lake Michigan. We threw frisbees around for a while, but when everybody started organizing different sports, I was left to wander the dunes with me, myself, and my cast. It was nice to see all of God's good creation, but it got kind of boring after awhile. The bus ride there and back was really good though. I took about an hour each way, so I got to have some really deep conversations, and get to know some people a lot better. While we were gone I got to miss the chamber music concert. :( bummer. But I did get to see the end of the Bible bowl GO Southside! and the Wittnesses unto me program- quite moving, especially since mist of the book of Acts was read, and I had just been studying it. Isn't it amazing how God can work two unrelated programs together to complement each other for His glory? Amen! Anyway, I went to the Short terms missions thing which pretty much encouraged me to go on a short term mission trip. Then we tried to get into the observatory, but it was locked! oh well. Went to bed. Got up the next morning, had breakfast with Jared (the new Lafayette pastor) and hit the long road home. For a long time I drove in silence and contemplated the conference, but half-way into Indiana I decided to see how many of my tapes I could play before I got home. I think it was four.