conference and my 21st birthday

I just came back from Student Life's Tune-In conference. It was from the 1 to 6 of July, and was amazing! I was excrutiatingly tired for most of it (we got an average of 5.5 hours sleep each night), but I still learned a lot. John Lamb from the states taught that we need to show grace before truth as Jesus did. God also spoke to me through John and revealed a little more about how much grace and love he has for the world. He challenged us with the question "are we simply allowing God to love us?". There was a cartoon character dress up night, and a formal banquet on the last night which were both totally awesome. Finally, I made a commitment to apply for a full-time internship at Student Life next year!

So I had a good sleep after conference, then got water baptised. I was so happy. My whole family came to the church service which was packed and full of life. We had a guest speaker from aussie - James Macphearson, who was amazing. He was so funny. And he did a really long alter call at the end. None of my friends or family went up though. My mum was crying her eyes out afterwards. I don't think she'd ever experienced anything like it. Praise God! After the service was my baptism. I had some really encouraging words spoken to me afterwards. Lots of people said I was a huge inspiration in their lives. I was overwhelmed.

Then we had lunch at gengy's. I had about 30 people come which was totally awesome. We had a ball! Everyone met people and celebrated while eating and drinking too much (my parents paid for it all !!!!!!!). My parents were totally thrilled for me and I think we changed their perception of Christianity, as well as my 3 not-yet christian mates who were there. My dad shared a whole lot of embarassing things I did when I was a kid. He had a whole folder of naked photos - soo embarassing, but everyone split their sides in laughter at hearing my dad describe me now as having a laptop in one hand, a bible in the other, standing in pink gumboots (he had a similar photo). Luckily he also shared some highlights about my life like awards I'd won and my passions.

Then something awesome happened. After my dad gave his speech, everyone made me stand up. I had no idea what to say, so I started by making some comments about what my dad said - admitted they were all true. Then God put it in my heart to share my testimony because there were 6 non-believers in the room. But I spoke to everyone (encouraging christians too).

I shared my story - how I came to know Jesus, and I shared it in a way that related to what my father said! It was such a God thing. I told everyone the truth that out of all the highlights in my life - the awards won, and decisions I've made -the decision to know Jesus personally was the best decision by far that I've ever made. I said "I think it's a good way to go in life - I believe it's the only way". I was so satisfied with the boldness Jesus gave me at that time! It was so perfect!

My parents had said when I became a Christian I seemed happier - but it took me a while to tell them about my decision. At the end of my speech I commented and said there was a difference between happiness and joy. What I have in Jesus is joy - in the good times and the bad. I told how I have hope in Jesus in those down times. How I used to get depressed because I couldn't see the hope. And finally thanked everyone with all my heart for coming. It meant more than anything to me that my close friends and family could be there on that day. (I remember in the morning as my friends arrived I was in tears praying for God to reveal himself to them)

So yeah, it was a good day :-) We had cake, did some singstar (altho I sucked it was funny), then Went to church at night too, and served in the cafe - one of my favourite places to serve God by serving others. What a long day! But it was the best birthday of my life because JESUS CAME TO MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!

I'm going to inspire conference at Eastside Apostolic next week, so will hopefully write something about that soon. Thanks for reading! I'm still yet to publish my journal from Fiji in easter this year. Too busy living in the here and now sharing about the good news of Jesus on campus! God bless, Ryan.