I'm actually home early! I've been supposed to be packing for the past..oh...two hours. I haven't. I wrote a good portion of a new song {not congregational}, ate some peanut butter, now I'm writing a blog post.
Yeah, well, it was a halfway decent song. Much more interesting than packing. But now there are people in the house and we all know how difficult it is for me to write songs when people are around. {Haha, I'd be much more prolific if I lived alone.}
blank canvases ready for worship
Anyway, the day started with worship by a band from India. They have trained with Dan McCollum, and they led us in some awesome worship, first in English, then in 2 of India's 23 official languages. It was really awesome. Some great dancing. :)
Then Dan McCollum talked about his vision for the arts and the Seven Mountains of Influence. Basically a 40-minute long prophetic word. So amazing, but it's more something to tell in person. So ask me. :) Highlights:
It is a false idea that the pinnacle of Christian commitment is to do ministry for a living.
When we imitate rather than innovate, we are actually acting in the kingdom of the enemy.
watching experiments
Then we got to see some of Jerry Aaronson's experiments that he'd showed us video of yesterday. That was fun.
"Signature" by Melody
Lunch. Then an art workshop with Tricia called "Creative Freedom." Basically...we painted blindfolded. Such an awesome experience. I can't wait to bring this class home! My painting doesn't look all the great, but, boy, oh, boy, is there an explanation behind it. Highlight:
It's not until the artist signs it that the painting has any value.
Then Creative Expressions. My friend, Anja, played and sang an original song.
Lauren, one of my hosts, made an announcement about her company's upcoming iPhone app, so that was really cool because I was like, "I know her! And her epic quest for iPhone epicness." :)
Then I came home, wrote {part of} a song, ate some peanut butter, checked my email, and wrote a blog post.
Woke up. Went to school. Worship with Brian & Ramey (husband and wife; daughter of Ray Hughes) Whalen. Really, really good worship. Different style, but still epic. And some spontaneous stuff, also, as if 'good worship' wasn't enough.
Then another talk from Jerry Aaronson. This one on sound.
Oh. My. Gosh.
I'd heard rumors of this from Dad, so I have the feeling it wasn't as jaw-dropping for me as it was for others. But. It was pretty darn close. If I were to sum up the topic, it was on how everything has a frequency, everything is making noise. Everything. Leaves. Rocks. The planet Saturn. Swans {not, like the noise you hear. they're being eminates a sound that we don't hear}. Light. Human beings. You are a sound. A unique sound, that has never been played and will never be played again. Part of a great symphony that's constantly, constantly praising.
This is one of those really cool things that I feel weird sharing here. Because some people will find it life-changing. Some people simply interesting. Some people will shrug and say it's cool, and never think any more about it. A few may think it borders too close to the New Age. All that to say, I'll post the highlights below, as usual, but I'm not going to post my video of his {previously recorded} experiment on sound frequencies, and I'm not going to post any of the videos on YouTube that will add. I'm not against posting them, I'm just tired right now, and I'm not sure if sound interests anyone besides me. By request only. But if you request - I'll post. :)
Highlights {abridged; I have 3+ typed pages of bullet-point notes}:
You only sense {feel, hear, see} about 8% of all sound.
Genesis 1:2 can be translated to God "vibrating" over the waters.
The reality you see here is not the greater reality. The reality you see here is caused by the greater reality. And the greater reality is sound. Music has taken on physical form. - a scientific journal
Observation can collapse a wave function and convert possibility to reality.
"We're busy sacrificing relationship with them [scientists] with the need to be right" - Jerry Aaronson
We think the New Age-rs are weird because they think crystals vibrate and give off energy.
{insert detailed explanation of old radios here}
Crystals vibrate and give off energy.
Stimulated electronically, they give a pulse.
Stimulated mechanically, they give electricity.
Everybody has a different frequency. Ask the guy who gives you an MRI.
"Could it be that you are the physical manifestation of a song that was in God's heart?" - Jerry Aaronson {I know, I know, you're wondering how we got from Point A to Point B. Basically, sound can create things. Basically. Long story too short.}
"If you only believe God talks through paper, that's the only way you're going to hear Him." - Jerry Aaronson
"If you have all authority, and he {Satan} has no authority, the only thing he can do is get you to point your authority in the wrong direction and pull the trigger." - Jerry Aaronson.
As I said, I have so many more notes than that. And some videos to accompany. Ask me.
After lunch, I went to Jeremy Riddle's class on Set Preparation. Strange class to pick, I know, but there were no others I had to go to, and I hadn't been to any of his workshops. I'm glad I did.
...
Um...there won't be any highlights here for that class. I took those notes in my binder, and I just realized I left my binder at school. So. Um. Yeah. First time I've done that.
CeCe & Lloyd
After that wonderful class, we had Creative Expressions, hosted by the amazing CeCe and Lloyd. Great time was had by all.
My roommate, Jasmine, did her spoken word. {You know those prayers? Totally worked. This morning she couldn't even open her mouth all the way...and by the time CE rolled around, she could. Facebook post tonight says she hasn't had Vicodin since this morning, and no pain at all! Yay God!} {And, I totally have a video of it, too, but Facebook's being weird. Not the best quality vid, anyway. Sorry. It was epically awesome.}
Aslan
the back of my journal
I hung out for a while afterward and talked with Diana. Then I went and chilled by Aslan at the Alabaster House. Then I went back and sat in on a Band Session while I completed my journal {I added a back design}. Then we went back to the Alabaster House and took some pics of Aslan and talked.
Aslan
Then we came home. Ate supper. Am so tired. It was a very emotionally draining day for me. The sort of day where you come home, and you are beat up and bruised from the battle. You won. But you're worn out. That's me tonight.
The day began with me thinking I slept in but actually being up a couple of minutes before my alarm - to go to the healing rooms.
These healing rooms were a bit different since the Kingdom Culture conference wasn't going on. They used two of the conference rooms instead of the sanctuary. One conference room - roughly half the size of the CCC living room - had been dubbed the Encounter Room. The other was used as a place for individual prayer. So, you go hang out in the decked out Encounter Room, and if you want individual prayer, you fill out the same sheet we did last week and they call your letter. I didn't want individual prayer today, I just wanted to chill in the Spirit, as it were.
The Encounter Room should really be called the Party Room, if you couldn't tell that already. It's a place of joy and celebration at God's goodness and what He's done and doing and will do. Constant, constant praise and enjoyment. Fun, fun, fun.
Then a quick lull {spent mostly in the bookstore} before I set out on a treasure hunt. We had a totally different teacher {again} this time. I actually got her name this time - Christina Wagner. She was in a ridiculously good mood. I had already seen her in the Encounter Room {which became the Healing Rooms after so many people arrived and they switched to 'Conference Mode' and they prayed for everyone in one room}, seen someone pray for her ears, then watched her balance one foot in front of the other. Turns out, she'd been navigating through severe vertigo for seven days. This morning she was 70-80% healed. So she was really happy. {If you've ever seen/listened to Heidi Baker...she's really similar in her presentation.}
Anyway, the three rules in this class were:
Get drunk
Stay drunk
Get everyone else drunk
Then we drilled in prophecy, words of knowledge, healing, and various etiquette for approaching people. During the healing drill - which isn't really a drill, we're just praying for each other instead of people we don't know - I prayed for a girl with pain in her hip and knee. {I'm pretty sure she was somehow interning with Christina, definitely helping out.} The pain went down a little bit, but not all. Then I heard someone behind me mention the growing out of legs that occurred last week and how a girl with hip pain (Anja) had been healed. "Let's try that!" "Okay!"
She sat down, I took her feet. Sure enough, the right leg was shorter than the left. So I told the right leg to come out...and out it came. And kept coming, until I started telling it to stop. And she's like, "No, don't stop, I want to be taller!" So I told it to keep coming out. And then she took control of her own legs and started directing them longer and longer, almost like a symphony. And I'm sitting there squealing because no matter that I've seen it before - omgosh! Seriously! And everyone crowding around to watch, and I just sit back.
She ended up taller. Her jeans no longer had to be rolled up.
Dude.
God's like, "See, it wasn't a fluke."
Anyway, once we got started on teams, Christina asked everyone who had been on a treasure hunt before to raise their hands. How about a Bethel treasure hunt? I kept my hand raised. "Good, you'll be a team leader."
Not that any of the other teams I have been on have actually had leaders, but that seems a big responsibility.
In the end, I didn't do much leading, which was okay. One of the girls on our team was 9 - almost 10 - and had a full treasure map. She'd just gotten back from the Kingdom Kids camp {whatever it's called} and was ready to go!
We prayed for one person.
Looking from an outward perspective, it was a pretty pathetic treasure hunt. It didn't feel like it, though, to me. I wasn't down. But most people would say it was a bust. {My goals are just to immerse myself in the experience and to learn it in and out, and I think I have succeeded as best as can be expected.} However, the testimonies we got from the other teams when we all came back were astounding! I'm not going to type them all here - I ended up being the scribe and writing them all down, so I know them well - but if you ask me, I'll tell you.
Home. Supper. Jenna had a friend over, and halfway through my cooking, they're laughing, and Jenna asks me, "Have you ever been drunk in the Spirit?"
"Not exactly..."
"You should come sit over here."
dancing feet
They were a bit wasted. Someday you should hear two school of ministry students talking theology while drunk...one of them with a Valley Girl accent. Seriously. It was great. I didn't get all that drunk from them, not laughing drunk. Peaceful. Not drunk. But then...then we were off to the drum circle.
yah, we got a shofar! but it sounds like a trumpet
The epically awesome drum circle that takes place in the Alabaster House every 1st Saturday and is hosted by Jerry Aaronson, the guy who taught on Native American culture restoration a couple of weeks ago. Anyway. It was awesome, especially since I've really been resonating with the Native American culture these past couple of weeks.
{I have a couple more videos, but yeah, ask me.}
After they finished, I didn't want to leave. So happy there. We finally did leave, though, and began the trek down the hill. Amber said I was drunk. I was, but I wasn't that drunk. I mean, I've seen people more drunk.
But it definitely felt good. It was a nice walk down the hill.
And now I'm home. Hoping to get to bed at a halfway decent hour to go to church at a ridiculously early hour to chill and then go to church again. Viola! And then, on Monday...I'm sleeping in. Thank You, Jesus.
Worship by Gabriel Wilson this morning. Really, really good. I like the way he does his songs. For anyone who knows the style, they could totally rock "New Song." And his passion is awesome. He lived up to his teaching yesterday.
Kim the Awesome & Adorable
Kim Walker-Smith spoke during Main Session. Highlights:
"Worship is a constant pouring in and a constant pouring out." - Kim Walker-Smith
"We are created to respond to Him, and to respond to His love." - Kim Walker-Smith
This generation of teenagers is "fed up with fake! They are fed up with production! ... One glimpse of God's love, one glimpse of passion, and they are hooked!" - Kim Walker-Smith
"If you can find a way to find that passion and put it on display, people will come running." Kim Walker-Smith
Biggest things that come against worship teams:
Perfectionism
Criticism
Judgment
Jealousy
If you want more creativity, start eliminating judgment and criticism.
When you honor, you are inviting favor.
"One day I will live in the fruit of this moment."
"God, I desire Your presence more than I desire the answers."
I'm stopping there. There's more. :) Next I went to Judy Franklin's {Bill Johnson's assistant} heavenly realms talk. It was pretty cool. I found out that I'm not weird in my previous experiences with Jesus, experiences that I was pretty sure weren't just my imagination...but not quite. This was an affirmation of that. She called Close Encounters of the Third Kind one of the most prophetic movies ever made. Dad - keep your ringtone. :) {This is a hard class to detail on a blog. If you want more on it, talk to me on the phone or when I get back. It was good, though.}
Then we took Jerry Aaronson's testimony of how he is a Native American evangelist - both to the Native Americans, and from the Native American culture. So good. It resonates with me, even though I feel a bit weird being 1/4 "Indian" and 3/4 European. I'm going to ask him about that. He mostly had inspiring stories, not as many one-liners. He's part of a Christian Indian group that goes around the world. They got to go to a New Age festival in Israel - located where the tribe of Manasseh did something stupid and were told they would always be serving other gods - to honor the First People of First Peoples, and to spread Jesus' love. New Agers would come up to their hill and tell them that it felt so much better there than the other places. There were such cool stories, and I would love to detail them...but not now. That's a lot of words. Another thing to talk to me about in person/phone. :)
the ceiling
the center of the ceiling
Then Amber, my Alabama roomie, and I went to the Alabaster House. We told each other we would be in there an hour, tops. We were in there an hour, but it didn't feel that long at all. Just to sit there and soak, it was great. There's quiet music going, and a fountain in the middle, and windows on every side. I'll try to get some real pictures later. For now, all I have are pictures of the ceiling.
Tonight we sat out and talked way longer than I was anticipating, but it was good.
Oh, and I finished my journal today! {Or, the front of it. I've decided now why not put stuff on the back, eh?}
my journal cover. metallic pink water bottle not part of cover. words say "HIGHER," "State of Grace," "Every child is treated like royalty," "Nowhere is life richer," and "It's a different culture, a different world."
{Oh, and Kim Walker-Smith took off her shoe and smashed a spider on the podium. That was a pretty epic moment. She "doesn't like bugs."}
Also, I got ahold of this MUCH BETTER video from yesterday's worship and the new "My Dear" song. Still not sure if it's a Bethel song or not, but it's good. Listen and enjoy. The quality here is pretty sweet.
