INTENSE: If I had to pick one word to describe this weekend for me at Journey this would have to be it.
THE MESSAGE was on a part of the “Elijah Cycle” that is full of emotion. It’s about the death of someone’s child. Yes, God raise him from the dead through Elijah, but if you enter into the story as the scripture intends, you can’t help but feel the pathos. The point of the message was that we are a part of & in need of God’s miracles in our own lives. Even as Nancy Regas read the story (it was a marvelous example of interpreting the scripture in the very reading of it – she had a keen grasp of the story & brought out the meaning as she read) the narrative seemed to grab your heart.
DIANA HARSHMAN’S MY JOURNEY – The story of the miracle her family experienced in their son’s life was such a great parallel with the text & the message. I’ll let you in on a slightly embarrassing secret: as I was sitting there listening, I had to consciously say to myself, “Pull it together, Ed. Pull it TOGHETHER!” The prayer meeting we had for their son was one of the most powerful I’ve been a part of. 
GOD LANDING ON THE WORSHIP – I love it when this happens. I also am fascinated by how “not-controllable” this is. J did a great job of sensing what was going on.
PRAYER & THEN PRAYER, DID I MENTION PRAYER – It seemed like the message, last week’s message & the momentum from last week’s God works all stirred up some people’s need for prayer in a big way. We had people lined up down the aisles & across the front as our awesome ASPT (after service prayer team) prayed with person after person. I didn’t get out of the building for about an hour after the service ended. I walked away thinking several things:
– We have a lot of need, acute needs.
– There are some great people in our ASPT – we need more!
– It’s hard to see people hurting
– I want more faith
SELAH – Our worship & prayer gathering called Selah, kind of picked up where the morning left off. Lots of needs & lots of prayer. It is such a beautiful sight to see the body of Christ serving & ministering to each other.
SURF THERAPY. The week leading up to the weekend was utterly full and to be honest, stressful. So it was cool to surf with some good friends on Saturday. It was pretty crowded but the waves weren’t bad & having your boys out there kind of multiplies the fun.
