Worship

My favorite part of the gathering was probably the mass events.  As soon as you walk into the Alamo Dome you feel a presence of joy!  When we walked further into the Dome and heard the praise music with 25,000 other people singing, I felt like I should just throw my hands up and praise Him as loud as my larynges allow me to!  The speakers came up to the stage and talked about their different stories, about how they found Christ in the hardest places or how they trusted in Christ to help them keep going during what they were going through.  It all showed how God really works in people’s lives!

Interest Centers

It was very cool how they had sessions that you could sign up for to hear more from the speakers.  One of the classes that I attended was about how by not being awesome and being yourself would make you awesome even if it is only in God’s eyes.  I thought that this class was very important and helped me a lot in understanding how God is.  I also went and saw someone speak about the reality of heaven and hell, three witnessing comedians, and two really good painters that painted a picture of the Bible story that was being told by another person.  I am sure all of the sessions were great and God definitely used people’s stories to instruct others about Him.

The Week’s Theme – Live Love(d)

The theme of the week was definitely a fantastic theme for a gathering of Lutherans.  1 John 4:9, being our theme verse, tells us that God sent His Son to Earth to die for my sins.  In the verse following, it says that “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us.”  In one of the stories, we were told about a girl who had gotten lime disease and almost died but because of God’s incredible love for us, she was saved from the grave. The theme, Live Loved, showed us God’s unconditional love for me and his mercy and grace to all.

Community

The group of youth that I went with was great for me to be with during NYG. I new some well and got to know others more deeply in the walk of friendship together.  The car rides definitely were a great way to spend time and learn about each other.  At the seafood dinner, some got to try new foods and learn about what others liked. But what I thought was really cool, was being able to see my colleagues actions show that their spirits were wanting more of God during the whole trip especially during the praise and worship.  And I’m sure they saw the same for me because I was having a just as spiritually awesome time as them!