“Disturb me, Lord, when my dreams come true, only because I dreamed too small. Disturb me when I arrive safely, only because I sailed too close to the shore. Disturb me when the things I have gained cause me to lose my thirst for more of You. Disturb me when I have acquired success, only to lose my desire for excellence. Disturb me when I give up too soon and settle too far short of the goals You have set for my life. Amen.” -Sir Francis Drake, 1577
The Catalyst Conference completely rocked my face off this year. I walked away from the arena with a great sense of purpose and mission.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one.
On Friday night I hooked up with some buddies from college who had also been a part of the conference. After an hour or so of small talk we began to open up more about our hopes, fears, and struggles. We kept finding ourselves driven to our knees in prayer.
In fact, we spent the entire night in prayer for the future of our ministries.
Not that our ministries would be big or be blessed but that God would be glorified and that Jesus would receive all power and honor and glory through our ministries.
We realized that if this were to happen through the people we minister to it must first happen through us.
We we humbled and broken that night.
At about 3am we remembered that Craig Groschel had kicked off his session by praying that God would disturb some of us so much that we wouldn’t be able to sleep.
There we were disturbed and unable to sleep.
I didn’t sleep the entire night I was so shaken and fired up and thirsty for God. You read about moments like this but I personally had never experienced something so tangible and so holy.
I have been rocked to the core. Not from a great session (although there were 9 of them) and not from a worship song (too many to count) but I have been rocked by the Almighty God, creator of the heavens and earth.
Lord, may this fire burn within me from today until the day you call me home. May you set a blaze in me a desire for the things that you desire. May my heart break for the things that break your heart. Forgive my pride. Forgive my arrogance. Forgive me when I am more concerned with the ways of the world than the ways of your Son. To you be all power and wisdom and strength and glory and honor. Amen.
So I came across your blog and felt compelled to drop you a line…i am also a YM in N. Dallas and i saw that you are reading McLaren’s new book and Unchristian.
I bought Unchristian yesterday and i am about half way through McLaren – I must confess that i am a McLaren junky (he is coming in Nov. to SMU and back again to DFW in Feb.) but here is my question for you as you dive into his book – what do we do with this as YM’s? Surely what he says affects what we teach our youth? Is it required that their parents buy in before they will? (not just with McLaren’s stuff but with any topic of faith)
Also, I am a U2 fan as well – i saw them about a yr. and half ago – it was a religious experience like no other i have had in a long time.
Oh, and i am in the middle of trying to rebuild our fence. I saw you just tackled that job – any advice? Did you use medal posts or wooden?