What better time than 3AM?

Let me start this off by showing the scattered initial thoughts of my time I had at Lost Canyon, a young life camp this last Saturday during college weekend.

“Father God, thank you for tonight, for the ability to worship you with song, thank you for calling us yours and bringing us all together, Father. I praise you for fun times and crazy dance moves, God that you are not just a God of stillness and contentment but of spontaneity and fun Lord. Jesus, thank you for the tender moments shared between strangers quickly made family through your blood, your example and you unconditional love. God thank you for variety for zealousness, God you are NOT a callused and mundane God, but a feverous and uncontainable God. Lord I praise you for your words, and that you have chosen such broken, messy, and imperfect vessels for sharing your glory and your kingdom. God that we could never be worthy of you or anything that comes along with you by our own merit but you loved us so freaking much that you took all of that on, that you ripped all of our burdens and our shame out of our souls to create the bridge from us to you, God. Thank you. Thank you for moments like these and for being the God that you are. You are so great, I love you, I praise you and I can't stop craving more of you.”

So now, to back up and expand, I spent this past weekend at young life camp instead of attending my first college homecoming - PRAISE JESUS. While there we all get to know God more and through that we come to a better understanding of who we are in God. Young life has mastered the ability of making God’s presence apparent at camp, through the beauty, intentionality and fun- but this weekend I was able to experience one of the most organic and utterly beautiful God moments of my life. On Saturday, me and a few friends were talking on the porch of the game room when a somewhat small group of people gathered near us with a guitar and the craving in their hearts to praise Jesus, around 11pm. As they began to sing I was taken aback in the sweetness of that moment but continued to talk to my friends about whatever it was, when suddenly I could not help myself but walk over and join as they sang You Are My King// Amazing Love. Holy Spirit really was tugging at my heart with that one because, that was the song I walked back to my cabin to after first encountering Jesus, then later being able to sing for six different groups of kids, alongside some of my favorite people in the entire world, to possibly do the same thing I did four years ago, make the decision to accept and truly pursue Jesus. So, as I walked over, I had no idea what to expect from that night but I knew that God was there. As we continued to praise Jesus for who he is, people, like me couldn’t seem to help but come join. The Holy Spirit seriously took over all of us it was crazy, it was in the 30s and I was just in a tshirt but I was totally comfortable, I could not help but smile and my heart was racing- completely consumed by His love and grace, being in that moment I was both completely satisfied yet craving God like never before. I met amazing people, we encountered and spoke to Jesus, our hearts were infiltrated by Him and no matter how hard the enemy may have tried to stop this moment, God is just so much greater, He is so much more powerful and this- us- everything is just so tenderly cradled in his hands. Simply thinking back on this night, with these people it instills so much fervor in me while bringing me to such peace that I can’t help but smile tenderly in His affirming presence. So I guess all I have to say is that, if you ever have the chance to praise God until 3 in the morning with total strangers- do not pass it up.