Walt Whitman

Today in American Literature class (just as a forewarning, it is highly likely that a lot of my future posts will start with this phrase. This class really gets me thinking. :)

So, today in my American Literature class, our professor read to us sections of Walt Whitman's poem called "Song of Myself." He introduced it by pointing out that Whitman was the "Poet of America," and that he embodied ideal American radicalism.

Okay, that's cool.

So usually when I read poems by myself as a homework assignment, I try to read into it and make sense of it in my head (it usually ends up just going over my head completely). However, when I'm in class and the teacher starts talking about it, it seems the poem has the most obvious meaning on earth.

So that's what happened here. The professor started reading it and adding explanations along the way that made me feel like I was the worst English major ever. It was alright for a while. Whitman was talking about cool stuff like abolition of slavery and the equality of man. I was like "Yeah, man. You're pretty cool."

Then it got kinda weird.

Apparently Walt Whitman's idea of radicalism meant tearing down the veil of human sexuality (including homosexuality). Alright then.

We went on further in the seemingly endless poem. I wasn't really bothered until we got to these lines: "Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch'd from...This head [is finer] than churches, bibles, and all the creeds."

Now THAT made me squirm in my seat. The first time I read it I thought, "Wow. He's equating himself with God." It's not really unusual in poetry to do that so it wasn't really shocking, but I read it a few more times....Whitman's not only equating himself with God, he's suggesting that he is better than God.

Um....what?

Just wait, it gets better.

Near the end of the poem, Whitman says,

"I have said that the soul is not more than the body,

And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,

And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is...

And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God,
For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,

 (No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.)

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,

Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.

Why should I wish to see God better than this day?"

I had to blink a few times to make sure I saw that right. It made me a bit angry. It didn't really help that my professor often interjected with comments like "Isn't that just a beautiful thought?" throughout the entire poem.

The more I thought about it though, I became very sad. What a desperately lost soul he was!! This is something that I've been thinking a lot about in this class....Americans have so abused the freedom we have in this country. The freedom to praise God without persecution is an amazing blessing, but people have fallen deeply into self-focused, individualistic lifestyles in the freedom they possess here. Our culture cultivates and encourages it though. Whitman was a perfect model of how extreme one can become in abuse of freedom. He not only embodies radicalism...he embodies a fallen sinner whose self-focused mindset has led him to believe that man does not need God because man has himself.
How sad it is to read the thoughts of a soul so lost which has never tasted the joy that comes from knowing God!!

But then I thought about how I could have just as easily been another Walt Whitman. If God had allowed my sin to just keep on going, I could have been just as bad, if not worse. But God has saved me from enslavement to sin, freeing me from the freedom in America which cultivates and promotes self-importance and self-focus. We as believers are no longer lost souls! Oh praise Him!

Hallelujah, we are found!!!

"What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

That's something a lot of us have heard, and it's a good thought to ponder. It encourages us to be confident and to do great things which may seem difficult because of our fear of failure.

But here is my question for you: What would you do if you knew Jesus could not fail?


Revelation 12:7-12

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

One day this is going to happen. Satan WILL be defeated once and for all, and he will no longer be able to tempt us or attack us. Christ WILL overcome him, and already has overcome sin and death on the cross.
Perhaps the most encouraging part is that because of Christ and what He did, WE WILL OVERCOME. No matter how defeated you may feel at any time in this life, know that we will overcome in the end. And we will overcome because of the hope we have in Christ and because of our witness to others of our testimony of salvation. Christ is the One who has done the work and given us this power through Him to defeat the sin in our lives, no matter how many times we fail.
What would we do then, since we know this to be true? Pray!! Ask God for strength to put your sin to death!! Spread the gospel WITHOUT FEAR!!

What a life we could live if we truly believed we could not fail in Christ...

Lord, forgive my unbelief and help me to live like this.

I started school today...

"Just so we're clear, if I am knocked unconscious you all are free to go."

~my American Lit. teacher

The Hunger Games post

Ladies and gentlemen, let it be known that I, Katie Saba, have *finally* finished the last book in the Hunger Games series.

-Thusly noted on this day, the eleventh of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and twelve-

It only took me like, a year and a half to complete the whole series from start to finish. It wasn't that I didn't like them. Just....I let other stuff get in the way. But I am officially DONE, son.

I've been hinting at a Hunger Games post for a while now, ever since the movie came out in March, but I wanted to wait until after I finished the last book in order to give a thorough evaluation of the series as a whole, and not just the first book which the movie was based on.
Okay, so I finished Mockingjay (the third and final book of the series) at about 1 AM last night. I stayed up thinking about it for at least an hour, mulling over all of my intense feelings that had just arisen after reading the last lines on page 398. I expected to turn another page, but instead I was greeted with two big, ugly bold words: THE END.

Let me get one thing straight with you here...I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. I thoroughly enjoyed the second book, up until the last page. I did NOT thoroughly enjoy the last book. Actually, I didn't like the last book. At all. But I had to see how it all ended, so I kept reading until the end in the hope that something awesome would happen to the characters that would resolve all of the unhappiness and despair that is found on pretty much every single page of Mockingjay.

Then all hopes were dashed. DASHED I TELL YOU.

There was one tiny little glimmer of something that might have been happy in the end, but that was it. There was a very uneven balance of despair and happiness in the whole story itself, actually. Very disturbing. And unsatisfying.

Maybe what really annoyed me was the whole love triangle resolution. For those who aren't familiar with the story, there is a love triangle between Katniss (the main character) and two guys, Gale and Peeta. I had been rooting for one guy since book one. The other guy started to grow on me in book 2, and I ended up liking him in book 3.
Without giving too much away, Katniss ended up with the guy that I had been rooting for, which is great...right?
The thing is, I just don't like Katniss. I really don't. I decided somewhere in the middle of Mockingjay that the guy I wanted Katniss to end up with was actually too good for her. And when he did actually end up with her, I didn't feel great. I felt terrible. And then the book ended.
It's hard to like a story in which the main character/hero of the story is not likable and/or doesn't learn anything by the end of the story. It just doesn't work. And I guess that was my problem. Katniss didn't learn anything. At least, not to the point where she was made into a more likable character. You get a small tiny hint of something in the last two lines of Mockingjay that indicate a slight change in Katniss' thinking, but nothing more.

It's just annoying.

And since I'm on a roll, another thing that annoyed me was how fast everything happened in the end. It was like Suzanne Collins decided she'd had enough and just wanted to end it quickly. There was no closure with any characters (besides Katniss and the guys she ends up with) and there was no explanation about what happens to anyone or anything after the big battle at the end, not even a mention. Did anyone stop to think that maybe we liked other characters besides Katniss and wanted to see their endings too? Apparently not. Grr.

It's just annoying. But I already said that.

So, if you want my recommendation, I would say read the first book. Then stop. It only gets worse from there. Oh yeah, and watch the movie.
And since we're on the topic, I thought the movie portrayed the first book really well!! With what they could do with the story, I thought they did an excellent job. The whole story is written from Katniss' perspective, so the moviemakers only had Katniss' views on everything to work with. But they did awesome. It was great. Go see it if you haven't yet. But remember, THE BOOK IS BETTER. The book is always better.

That is all.


P.S. If you really want to read a great series which follows a character who you will actually like, read Harry Potter. But I think I'll be saving that for another post at another time... :)

an interesting thought...

P.S. ^one more reason to praise God, right?

This Week's Playlist

Lately, I've been listening to the radio...which is weird because normally I just plug my ipod in and listen to that in the car. But anyways, I apparently need to listen to the radio more often because I keep getting behind on all the new music that comes out...so I end up going to people saying, "Oh my gosh, this song is so awesome!" and then they look at me and say "Yeah Katie, that song has been out for like two months...."
So I'm here today to tell you about some awesome songs that came out very RECENTLY.....I think.

Let's start with an awesome verse: 2 Corinthians 4:16
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."

which leads nicely into this song....

"Beautiful Things" by Gungor. I heard it once a few days ago and I had to go look it up immediately. It's been on repeat in my house all day today, and I just bought it on itunes. :D (Also fitting because I JUST finished going through 1 and 2 Corinthians in my Bible readings....God always has such perfect timing.)

Second song....

"When the Stars Burn Down" by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. First of all, what an awesome title for a song, right? It just sounds cool...

Secondly, I love how WORSHIPFUL this song is!! Just sit down and close your eyes and LISTEN to this song...then listen to it again and sing along! :)

And next....

"The Proof of Your Love" by King & Country. I just heard this song for the first time the other day, but I LIKE it. The music is beautiful, and I really like these guys' voices. I've never heard of the band before, but I'm pretty sure they're new. Anyways, this song really encourages me because I've been praying and asking God to help me be a reflection of Christ. More of Christ, less of me. It's something I really need to work on. I guess this song also came at a perfect time. :)

One last song...

This one's just for fun. I know it's kind of a change from all the other songs up there...spiritual, spiritual, spiritual, NOT SPIRITUAL. But I confess this song grew on me...and I ended up buying it. If you haven't heard of One Direction yet, they're basically like if the lost boys from Peter Pan got together and decided to make a band. This particular song is their most popular one called "What Makes You Beautiful." I know the lyrics aren't exactly the DEEPEST ones around....but I think this one will be a fun one to play in the car with the windows down this summer. ;)

What's on your summer playlist? Please share any awesome songs you've discovered. I would love to hear them!

P.S. We're almost at 300 reasons so far!!! If we keep this pace up every week, we'll be at 10,000 by....*opening calculator on laptop...10,000/300=33.33333333...*
Okay, so 33 weeks. Maaaybe we should step it up a little to get this done a little earlier. The reasons are out there!! We just need to think of them. Invite your friends to the facebook group I made! Get them listing reasons! If you're not on facebook, shoot me an email with your list! Or comment below. Whatever works. :)

10,000 Reasons

I've had a new favorite song ever since the Passion conference. It's called 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman. I strongly encourage you to look it up because it's awesome. And I don't use that word flippantly here. When I say awesome, I mean AWE. SOME. So worshipful and beautiful...it's the perfect song to listen to when you first wake up in the morning. :)
Anyways, this song has inspired me. Not only has it inspired new, glorious thoughts about God that I can meditate on, but it's given me an idea and I've decided that I want to try out. The line in the song which the title comes from goes like this: "For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find."

So that's what we're gonna do.

I'm not sure exactly how long it will take, but I want to list 10,000 reasons to praise God. Now you're probably thinking, "Now Katie, 10,000 is just a really big number that they use to stress the point....we can't possibly come up with that many." And to that I'm saying No, we are actually going to come up with 10,000 reasons and list them one by one because our God is so great and so unsearchable and so much more amazing than our tiny human brains can comprehend, that there is probably an infinite number of praiseworthy aspects of our God that we don't even know about yet. But for now, let's list the ones He has chosen to reveal to us. Only 10,000. Pretty small compared to infinity if you ask me. (And if you think about it, the Bible is FULL of reasons!! I mean, just look at the book of Psalms!!)

Your thought process is now probably going like this: "Katie, that's great and very true. But come on, be real. Coming up with 10,000 reasons is going to take FOREVER. It's just too huge a number."

And that's why I'm going to need your help. :) This Summer, I need you to think EVERY DAY. Come up with at least 5 new reasons to praise God. You may end up with 5. You may come up with over 100 in one day. But WRITE THEM DOWN. Don't forget them!!!! We need to keep track so we can reach our goal in a reasonable amount of time. :P So go get yourself a clean notebook and start listing!!

Let's try to keep each other accountable and keep this going through the summer. Spread the word. Recruit more friends to start listing their reasons too! We can use all the help we can get!

I'll be compiling all of the reasons, so you can update me on your list as often as you like. Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, even daily. Just don't forget about it!! You can contact me via email (ktsaba10@gmail.com) or through the ol' FB (if we're friends, of course).
One last thing: These don't have to be long reasons.One sentence or even just a phrase will be perfect. :)

If you're willing to help out, let me know! The more the merrier, always.

P.S. The actual song contains quite a few reasons, if you would like to start there...

Favorites: Movies

Probably one of the worst questions to ask someone you've just met is "What's your favorite movie?" I mean, come on...really??? Who on earth can mentally scroll through every movie they've ever seen in their life and determine which one(s) is their favorite and still be able to give you an adequate answer within a reasonable amount of time? Nope. Nobody.

So having said that, I thought I'd let you know that I've put some careful thought into compiling a list of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Now I know that certain movies are more appealing to me depending on my mood or the current popularity of the movie (for example, I've seen The Avengers twice already, and it has frequently come up in conversation recently, so I'm apt to say that it's one of my favorite movies right now...). HOWEVER, trying to put all of that aside and really getting down to what makes a movie great overall (in my humble opinion), here are my top 10:

#10

Little Women

A movie I grew up with. You can't help but love a classic story of four young girls growing up and discovering the world one step at a time. :)

#9

Sense and Sensibility

A Jane Austen classic. The acting and the screenplay of this film are what make it truly fantastic.

#8

The Prestige

One of Christopher Nolan's genius films. This one kept me guessing until the very end , then  I was completely blown away by the ending....

#7

Remember the Titans

Absolutely wonderful family film. It'll make you laugh, cry, and everything in between.  Such a great movie.

#6

The King and I

Another one I grew up with. The story is so good, and the setting (a Siam palace) is so beautiful.  Lots of classic, memorable scenes in this one.

#5

Inception

Another product of Christopher Nolan's genius mind.  I was blown away when I saw this in theaters with my sister a few summers ago. It immediately went on my top favorites list of movies.

#4

The Sound of Music

Anyone who has not seen this movie was deprived in their childhood.  Absolutely classic film, brilliant score....every scene in this movie is memorable.

#3

The Lord of the Rings

I was one of those late comers to the fandom of the movie trilogy. I didn't see the movies until a few years after they came out, but when I did, I thought they were the most perfect films ever created. Everything was dramatic and epic, but it wasn't cheesy or unnecessary. The acting was incredible and the music brought the fantasy world to life.
So. Awesome.

#2

Life Is Beautiful

A surprisingly large amount of people have never heard of this movie.  I didn't see it until we bought it  randomly one day and watched it. I cried my eyes out. It is very sad, but very good all the same. It's set during WWII (the Holocaust, mainly), so naturally there's an inevitable tragic element, but it really is very good. The story is so beautiful and touching, and the ending always brings a smile to your face, no matter how many times you watch it.

And finally...

#1

It's A Wonderful Life

If you have never seen this before, I pity you. You have not LIVED until you've seen this movie!!!  This was another one I grew up watching. My family has watched it every Christmas Eve for 18 years. Every time I watch it, I just love it more and more. I love a lot of movies and I'll probably claim a lot of them to be my favorites, but no film has ever made me feel the way that this one does. It made me so excited about LIFE, and I just wanted to jump out of my chair and do something GREAT with my life....no other movie has ever had that sort of effect on me. Ever.
It's a good movie to watch around Christmas time (it's always on TV around that time), but you don't have to wait that long (especially if you've never seen it before). I'm serious. Go find a copy of it and watch it and have a wonderful life. :)

So there we have it. Not sure if anyone really cares, but there is my list.

It makes me feel better, anyways.

P.S. So I just finished editing this post and it's 1:15 AM...and I have to be up at 7:30 to go to Atlanta. This was all for you, my blog readers. That's what I call dedication (or the result of procrastination of blog posting...whichever way you choose to look at it).

May: The Month of Nerdiness

Well, I'm pretty nerdy. Don't know if I've told you that before or maybe you've already gotten that impression...but I'll just flat out say it. I'm a true nerd. And THIS month, there are a few things going on that will make my nerdy self quite happy.

NUMBER ONE:

Nancy Drew: Tomb of the Lost Queen

Yeah, I'm pretty excited. These computer games have been a part of my life for about 9 years. I pretty much left the Cluefinders and Carmen Sandiego in the dust after I discovered these. They are so. much. fun. The whole point of the game is solving a mystery. You play as Nancy Drew and find clues, question suspects, snoop in people's rooms when they're gone...the whole shebang. They release a couple of new ones every year, and I've bought every single one of them (seriously, I have games 1-25 all lined up in a row on my closet shelf upstairs). This one comes out on May 8, and it promises to be a very nice addition to my collection. You will find my overly excited nerd self at the nearest Target on that day, I guarantee you.

NUMBER TWO:

 Avatar: The Promise-Part 2

So, if you have never seen or heard of this TV show before, I suggest you get right on that. Immediately.
I will most likely be devoting an entire post to the awesomeness of this show sometime in the near future (after my Hunger Games post...still working on that). The show is by Nickelodeon (obviously), so it's geared toward younger teens....but it's AMAZING. But I can't start ranting now...but it's AMAZING....

Okay, so the above picture is the second part of the graphic novel series that continues the story after the last season ended. I have yet to read the entire first part (still looking for it in stores around my area), but I plan on buying it ASAP. Apparently, the first one left off with a cliffhanger (no surprise there), so I am reeeaaaallllly eager to see what happens in this one. It comes out on May 20.


NUMBER THREE:

 Season Finale of Once Upon a Time

I'll be honest with you. I really wasn't that excited for this show when it first aired on ABC last year. But let me tell YOU. I am officially HOOKED. It's from the creators of Lost, if that tells you anything (lots of twists and turns, unanswered questions, ambiguous events and characters...the list goes on). The first season finale airs on May 13th, and I cannot wait. Apparently, someone HUGE is going to die...like, a main character we never would have thought the show could go on without. I'm scared.

So this summer, you can expect to find me playing Nancy Drew with the Avatar novel in my hand and crying my eyes out while I watch the epic finale of Once Upon a Time.

And so my inner nerd shines through.

Have a happy May everyone.

P.S. Oh yeah, and school is over for the summer by the way....for me at least. So we all know what this means, right??? MORE BLOGGING! If I don't forget.... :D

Laugh

You know what ALWAYS makes people happy WITHOUT FAIL???? Come on, have a guess.....

If you guessed "laughing," then *PING PING* We have a winner!!!! I love laughing, I love people who make me laugh, and I love making other people laugh. It's one of the greatest feelings you could ever experience....your stomach may hurt and tears may be streaming down your face uncontrollably, but you don't care because you're just so happy in that moment. :)
So today I thought I would dedicate a blog post to laughs. Today, I want you to think of some things that make you laugh. It can be a person, an animal, a TV show, a movie, an experience you had in the past....ANYTHING. Now try to relive those hilarious moments. Go re-watch that movie or go find that person who always knows how to make you laugh and spend the day with them or re-live that one moment that had you laughing til your sides hurt.....Just have a good laugh and feel great!

"I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills."
-Audrey Hepburn

Yep. Even the President laughs.

Enjoy life while you have it. Take every opportunity you have to make someone's day by giving them a good laugh. And of course, laugh at yourself because....well, why not???

P.S. That Hunger Games post WILL be coming...just wait for it...in the meantime, GO WATCH THE MOVIE. I've seen it twice already if that tells you anything...

I know, I know....

ALRIGHT. I know I haven't updated in over a month and I know that some of you check back often to see if anything new is up.....I apologize for the extended absence. I will TRY to update on a semi-regular basis. I do LOVE blogging, but sometimes I just don't feel like I have anything worthy to share. I was going to try to do a Hunger Games post once I finished the third book......well, that hasn't happened yet (I'm only on the second chapter.....please no one kill me). I did finish the first book in two days, so please don't think that I hate them. I seriously love those books as if they were a part of my soul (kind of.....maybe...), but I just haven't sat down and READ the last book. Maybe it's because I was kinda upset with the ending of the second book......I just wanted to put it down and not even look at it because I was so annoyed. Anyways, as SOON as I finish Mockingjay, I WILL have an official Hunger Games post that will most likely go on and on and on and on and on forever and ever and ever and ever....Amen.
By then the movie will be out (7 DAYS 2 HOURS AND 8 MINUTES FROM NOW!!!!), and I will have more to talk about.

UNTIL THEN.......

Yet ANOTHER Passion update! YAAAYYYY!!!!!
Okay, EVERYONE (and yes, I mean you) needs to GO BUY the new CD that just came out this week!!!! It's called "White Flag" and it has live recordings of all the songs we sang at the Passion conference (so when you hear the crowd cheering, remember that I'm one of those voices!! :D). It's only $10, and you can buy it on itunes or online:

http://268store.com/store/product/852/Passion%3A-White-Flag/

GO. NOW. BUY IT. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

These songs get you so pumped up for Christ and the many truths about Him and what He has done!!! So get your copy, play it in your car, roll down your windows, and sing at the top of your lungs. (Also share with your friends :D)

Have a fantastic week!!!!

P.S. If you aren't planning on it already, go see the Hunger Games on Friday, March 23rd.
May the odds be ever in your favor. :)

Verse of the Day

It's really cool how God works sometimes....He makes it work out where you read just the right verse in His word at just the right time. I had a moment like that this morning, so I thought I would share.


No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13


P.S. Listen to this song today too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQHi4Q7eMAo&feature=fvst

PASSION

in photos...

That's Lecrae! :D

in words...

Well, there are no words really. To describe the true Passion experience is impossible. You just have to go and see for yourself.

For now, I will do my best. :)

Passion consisted of 8 main sessions (one on Monday night, three each on Tuesday and Wednesday, then the last one on Thursday morning). Each session included worship sessions led by AMAZING artists like Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Redman, and Christy Nockels (some of which are pictured above). All of them were fantastic at leading worship and so excited about praising God!! You could just see it in their movements and the expressions on their faces....they were so passionate about the God they were lifting their voices to.

In each session, there was a speaker (or speakers). The evening sessions were all sermons, and the morning and afternoon sessions were usually about Do Something Now (the movement for freedom for 27 million slaves in the world). They showed a Freedom film in parts that had former slaves telling their stories from different parts of the world. There were also speakers who told us about organizations they worked with that helped free people who were being trafficked. Each one of them had an amazing story and had such passion in their hearts for these 27 million slaves.

All of the 45,000 students in attendance could go to the Freedom stations that were set up around the dome and the Georgia World Congress Center to donate money for the cause of freedom. As I mentioned in my last post, we raised over 2 and a half million dollars. One couple who was at the conference gave $500,000 on their own, pushing our total over the $3 million mark. Our God can do amazing things through one group of young people.

The messages in the evening sessions were all convicting, inspiring, and worth pages and pages of notes. My favorites were Francis Chan, John Piper, and Louie Giglio. Especially Piper. One of my goals in life was to see John Piper preach before I died....or before he died, whichever came first.

Piper's message was spot on. It was all about our freedom in Christ and what that means. It was PERFECT. Absolutely brilliant. In short, he explained how we are born in sin, and when we are saved, God takes our sinful nature and brings us out of that bondage (our slavery to sin) and makes us free. Now since we are still sinful, we can't be perfect. But when we are doing the will of God and have the desire to please Him, God has given us the ability to obey Him and please Him (made us free from sin) and we will experience joy because we are doing what we want to do (freedom) and we are doing the will of God. Now the part that just made me over-the-top excited was how Piper talked about heaven. When we get to heaven, we will be completely, 100% SINLESS. There will be NO taint of sin in our praise to God and there will be no HINT of sin left in our lives. We will be made NEW and our desire will be to please God and to give glory to Him forever. There will be no more sinful world to distract us, and since there is no sin, we will WANT to give glory to Him and we will be FREE to do that forever and ever. This will be perfect freedom in Christ and we will have perfect joy as a result. How COOL is that???

So anyways....back to the conference....

Probably my favorite part of the whole thing was not even part of the conference itself. On Wednesday night, my whole group gathered at our hotel and I asked them to give their testimonies of their salvation. Some of those stories were the most beautiful things I had ever heard. I could pinpoint ways that God had worked in each of their lives before they came to Christ, and I couldn't help but be amazed.

I could keep going, but I think this is long enough already. :) I'll leave you with the charge that Louie Giglio gave us on Thursday morning before we all left.

Wherever you are (high school, college, work, looking for work), don't be constantly asking yourself "What am I gonna do?" if you are in a place where you're not sure about your future. WHEREVER YOU ARE, God has placed you there for a reason and right now it is GOOD for you to be there. And most importantly, be FEARLESS in spreading the gospel in whichever situation you are in. I know that there is at least one person in your life who needs Christ, and they could be 7 days or 7 years from becoming saved....but all they need is ONE person who is fearless who can give them gospel. Just keep that in mind...

One last thing: Please, PLEASE register for Passion 2013 if you are 18-25 years old!!!  It will be at the GA dome again, and this time they are opening more seats. So be sure you check the website for the dates for next year!! (the link is up there under "Stuff you should see")

P.S. Happy February!!