Cam and I recently went on an 8 hour road trip to Dayton, OH with our friend Amy Boelk to attend the New Millennium Conference at the Dayton Vineyard. We loved the churches motto: "A pretty good church". It was true. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dayton. Here is the view from our room.
I can state with ease that the conference was life changing for all three of us. The teachings were full of wisdom and I felt like I was in God's living presence the entire time we were there. We really couldn't have asked for a more incredible experience.

On Friday morning we were pulling out of the parking ramp downtown and heard what sounded like a cat meowing. We thought at first that the sound was coming from the radio and next that there must have been a cat in the ticket booth at the ramp exit. When the meowing continued I made Amy stop driving even though Bill Johnson from Bethel Church in Redding, CA was teaching that day and we had intentionally left an hour early to get front row seats.

We pooped the hood and looked inside to find a little black kitten on the engine. As soon as I said one word, it jumped back in and hid inside, out of reach! Just then a truck pulled up behind us and ran over to ask for help (more like beg for help, I was so desperate and pathetic they had no choice).
Scott and Kyle did everything they could to help us and truth be told, they were the heroes of the day. They had to jack up the car to get the kitty out, which took about 45 minutes and some prayer out loud - Scott looked at me like I was crazy but within a couple of minutes of telling God He had to do it because we couldn't do it on our own the kitten repositioned so Kyle could get a hold of it. Yay praying out loud shamelessly and yay God for answering that prayer!It very much felt like Satan had thrown a wrench in our plans, we didn't get our front row seats but we did get faith, in both God and humanity. And the cute little black kitty went home with Kyle (the guy above on the right) who lives on a farm :)

So after what we deemed a victorious morning we got to hear Bill Johnson teach twice on Friday. I was even nerdy enough to go up front, dragging Cam with me to get a photo with Bill. It's not the best photo we've ever taken but we were grateful to get one.
An experience like the one we had with incredibly affirming ministry time and amazing teaching after amazing teaching results in a heart for God that just won't ever be the same. We know that our lives have to change too, because we've changed inside and the only thing we are capable of is changing for the better on the outside through our actions.
As we drove home from the conference we laughed and talked about the things stirring in us. We have lots of ideas. Lots of renewed hope in our renewed minds. The work is just beginning, to know how to discern God's presence and His will for us. To be so full of the Holy Spirit that it spills out into our lives over the people surrounding us. That's what a life of faith can look like, and so much more. All of God using all of me. What would that look like?