Winterfest '12

I went to a christian convention this weekend. We got up at like 430 in the morning Friday to take a bus to the lovely Gatlinburg TN. Ashland Church of Christ got us with the charter bus around 630. The ride there felt as if it took 12 hours instead of just 8 coming from Marion. I sat with a good friend of mine and we talked alot on the way there, realizing new things, and bringing up old memories. Church of Christ goers love to sing, and we sang a lot on the way down, and back home. When we got there we checked into the hotel, it was a cheap one with only 3 stories and we all got stuck on the third floor. Only a few floors means stairs which really sucked. After we got settled in we went to go stand in line for the first session. Winterfest is a convention bringing Church of Christ christians together to worship God, and to learn more, and to inspire, which is exactly what happens. There is two services that is provided, we go to the early bird one, and they also have a late one, averaging about 7,000 chistians, each service. This is my second year going and I have a good idea of what we do, and on the first night we always go to the Texas Roadhouse. I sat with Luke, Sam, Caleb, and Jason. Afterwords it was about 9, so we went to the hotel and we went to bed. The next morning we woke up at 730ish for the morning session. I got to meet David Bowden, he's an artist. He writes poerty and talks at Winterfest. Well, he recites his poems to us, and walks away. He talks about a variety of things, the one that stuck out was the one at the evening session that night. He talked about savoring God's word , chewing and meditating on it so you understand and it sticks with you. He puts so much heart and soul into it when he speaks, it gives you the chills. I could listen to him all day. I just wish I could understand him the way it was meant. It's very hard. So much goes on, but my favorite part was Sunday's service, we got to the line early and we go close to the front, so we got near the front of the stage, we were probably 50ish yards away, which is better than looking at a screen from further. Anyways, while the man was speaking, there was a painter behind him painting on a canvas. It looked like an oversized flower to me. When he was finished I didn't understand it. Paintings always have a meaning. I could make out some plants and part of a glass and a moon shaped cresent. The man speaking asked us to pray with him, so we did. We closed our eyes and bowed. When we opened our eyes and looked up, the lights were turned off and the painting was lifted. It was now Jesus looking at us, offering bead and wine. It took my breath away, it was simply gorgeous. Overall the experience was truely amazing. I learned so much and I have become a better person because of it. It's hard to write everything out, and I'm sorry, a lot of what I learned is for me to figure out right now. God Bless.