Where do I even begin? I'll just tell you about the whole weekend...

Friday at about 12:15, Sarajane, Ben and I left Gardner-Webb to head to Nashville for TheCall...and I was sooooo excited! We stopped in Hendersonville to get lunch and window chalk to write all over they car and then we were off. We got into Nashville at about 7 Friday night and checked into our very nice Holiday Inn Express. We headed out for downtown Nashville and at dinner at Hard Rock (which was amazing I might add) and then walked around downtown. We went back to the hotel and got in the bed since we knew the next day would be an early one.

So...5 AM Saturday morning the alarm clock went off and the day was on. We got up and showered and downed some Gatorade and water to start preparing for the day of fasting. We arrived at LP Field at about 6:15 or so to a line outside of the gates. We hung out, read some of the Bible, and then the gates finally opened a little after 8 o'clock. It took us a little while to get through because of security, but we finally got in and made our way to the field. It was so amazing from the start. They had a time of early worship until about 10. At first, we were somewhat tense; those around us were worshipping and dancing and having a blast, but it took us a little bit to get into it.

At about 10 Lou Engle came onto the stage along with some folks with shofars and began the day. The shofars were blown one after another and then in unison as Engle read the scripture from Joel 2...it was so powerful. Then, different representatives from different ethnic groups came forward and prayed for the day and for the participants from that group; Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino, Jewish, and worshippers of at non-denominational, inter-denominational, denominational churches came forward and prayed. What so so amazing is that the Native American prayed in English and his language, and the Latino pastor prayed in Spanish and the man that was born Jewish prayed in Hebrew. After that U.S. Senator and Republican Presidential candidate Sam Brownback came on stage and asked for forgiveness from the Native American, African American, and Latino for the way our government has treated them. What a powerful part of the day! Michael W. Smith read a letter sent from President Bush and then the day started. We began by praying for our president and those in leadership roles in government; we asked for forgiveness for the negative comments we've made about our president and prayed for him.

From there, we moved on and prayed about more and more issues. We spent time listening to statistics related to sexual immorality, pornography, sexual transmitted diseases, and abortion. We prayed for an end to the sexual revolution and for God to bring revival. We prayed for freedom from pain and thoughts of suicide and cutting. We learned more about the spirit of Baal that has come over the church and the toleration of Jezebeel in the church. We officially divorced Baal.

We prayed for abortion to end. We listened as a woman who was once an employee of planned parenthood and who performed abortions wept and asked for forgiveness for the children she killed. We listened as a young girl who had an abortion asked for forgiveness. We listened as a man who paid to have his child aborted asked for forgiveness. We heard stories of children being adopted by families and an entire community at Justice House of Prayer in San Francisco. Lou Engle read from a Dr. Seuss book, "Horton Hears a Who!," that is the story of abortion and was so moving. We prayed for an end to abortion and decided that as Christians we have to be willing to step up and adopt children and have to improve foster care and training for mothers. We received LIFE bracelets (they can be found at www.bound4life.com) and a piece of red LIFE tape that we put over our mouths and prayed for an end to abortion for 10 minutes. In case you're wondering, Bound4Life is a group related to TheCall that silently protests in front of abortion clinics and court houses by placing red tape with the word LIFE written on it and praying for an end to abortion.

Three couples got married during the day as a symbol of us as a people remarrying ourselves to God, and then the crowd took communion. The day continued with more worship and more prayer. Michael W. Smith led the crowd in song, as well as John Mark McMillan, and Jeff Deo. We sang and danced to the Lord.

At about 8:30, something amazing happened. They had 300 men, the number of Gideon's army, march down the center aisle with shofars. When they got to the front, Ricky Skaggs (yes, the musician Ricky Skaggs) let out 7 blasts on his shofar and on the 7th, all the other men joined in and the crowd went wild! For close to 15 minutes people screamed and danced and jumped up and down and the shofars kept blowing. The idea was that every great moment in history has a sound that accompanies it and, since TheCall was a great moment, that was our sound.

The day was completely amazing! My friend Sarajane and I both felt that a word that kept coming over us was freedom. FREEDOM! From sin and the things of this earth and inhibitions...freedom to love God and worship Him. The day was also full of repentance and there was a spirit of forgiveness about the whole event. We spent time asking for forgiveness and being open and honest about our wrongs; which was so amazing.

So...what's next? Well, right now, I can't stop talking about Saturday. I feel so free and fresh and full of joy and can't wait for more Calls. We plan to head to Las Vegas in September and then to Kansas City in December, Atlanta in January, maybe Berkeley in February...all leading up to TheCall DC II on 08.08.08. It's so exciting!

God is so amazing and I love him so much!

Labels: TheCall