Worthy09-The Fear of God

Grass. Ever thought about how truly small and helpless it is? I didn't, until Worthy09. Grass, you see, needs someone to care for it. It needs to be planted, watered, and cared for in order to live. Grass is small, and it doesn't live very long. Waves, also, are here for a second, then are gone. Forever. One wave, a couple seconds, maybe minutes, then it's over. Never to be seen again. Hundreds of blades of

grass or waves.

Men are like waves and grass. We are here today, gone tomorrow. We are tiny, we didn't make anything, and we are one in billions. And what other blades of grass or waves think about you doesn't matter. They didn't make you, they don't truly care for you the way your Creator does, and you don't need to impress them. The one who deserves every percent of your fear, admiration, and praise is God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Beginning and End, Almighty, Powerful, Holy. God is love. God is merciful. And He thinks about you all the time, always, forever. He loves you, and does not want you to spend your precious time trying to get other blades of grass to think you are cool. That wastes time, and is useless.

Jon Smith told us a story. Once he was driving with his family, and they saw a house that was on fire. Not a small house fire, but very, very large. It was hot, and very hungry. After taking his family to safety, he drove to the fire, and watched, in awe. Everyone else watched this fire, too, for it was huge, and impossible to ignore. It spread to the houses next to it. He said that God is like the fire. He is impossible not to notice, and is huge and mighty. And people don't just walk up to you and talk about their shoe while the fire is blazing in front of you. You watch the fire. In your life, people will come up to you are try to show you a match with a tiny fire, telling you how cool it is, trying to distract you from the fire. Truth is, that tiny fire isn't worth spending your time on. It is nothing compared to the real thing.

When you put these together and know how awesome God is, you realize how stupid the fear of man is. At the retreat, God spoke to us through Dave Brewer, Jon Smith, Josh Harris, and Bob Kauflin. God showed us that He is the only One worthy of our fear.

On either Tuesday of Wednesday, the winds started blowing. It was warm, and very powerful. It got stronger and stronger, attracting all the youth.

The waves started crashing, and mist started spraying us.

It got so powerful that we could lean over the hill and be held up by the wind.

And that night, God showed us just how powerful He is, that he can move mountains and command storms to either come or go.

Everyone, once they experienced the storm, was in complete awe, and passionately worshiped Him. It was awesome.

The next morning it was so peaceful.

The waters were still, the sky a beautiful blue color, the air cool and calming.

God gave us a beautiful location to have our retreats. The sky and water changed shades of blue so many times.

The day we had Ministry night was amazing.

Friends prayed for each other, people cried, tissue boxes were emptied, and healing occured. God changed so many of us. I don't know if there was one person who wasn't touched. It was the best retreat I have had so far. Thank you for sharing my experience!