Well, in spite of the sobering events of last evening (or morning depending on your geography), yesterday was an extraordinary day for me.
The queues were long; reinforcing for me my introverted tendencies. The afternoon came and I was sapped. By 4pm all I could think of was my room and my quiet bed.
I had heard Joyce Meyer speak, Reihard Bonke, Brian Houston, and Phil Pringle, all of whom are Pentecostal heavyweights so the names may be strange to some. It was all inspiring to me in degrees, but the piece de resistance was the Michael W Smith worship session in the evening. Part concert but mostly congregational worship, it was so moving that I was far from the only one in tears, and far from rarely.
From the outside looking in, such gatherings may appear strange, the pentecostal emphasis on encounter with God comes across as a bit bizarre sometimes and while it has certainly had it’s fruit loops (all of whom even I raise my eyebrows for) it has quenched the thing in me that said for years, “There must be more to God than this”.
After the evenings worship I am changed again, and my alignment is set back to my true North, I’m a little wiser, a little less innocent but all the more grateful for His grace to the fallen.
Total acceptance and no condemnation – Relief and Encouragement.