Rain, Sleet, Snow, (and Michael Phelps) at Copper Mountain

I'm sitting in Lefty's Mile High Grille at the Denver airport, about to enjoy my favorite tuna steak sandwich anywhere. On my way home from the '08 STINT Briefing conference at Copper Mountain. It's a gathering of over 300 young leaders, most of them having just graduated a couple of months ago.

To welcome them the first night, I spoke on Moses' encounter with God in the bush on fire on Mt. Horeb, and how God wants to surprise us, even when we feel like we are the least likely or adequate for being used by Him. (Remember, Moses was living pretty far at that time from his original vision of delivering Israel.)

All of these STINTers have heard from God - had their own Mt. Horeb moments marked by worship and full surrender to Christ. They shared where some of those had taken place; a coffee shop, a cemetery, on an airplane to Rome. The atmosphere is filled with a mixture of deep humility and great anticipation of God moving and leading and overpowering with His presence.

We experienced the drama of weather in the Rockies, from driving rain to sleet, a ground covering hailstorm, and a thunderstorm that dropped snow - all in about 24 hours. This has only added to the sense of majesty that we are in His hand, at the intersection of the finite and the eternal. And also being wet and cold a lot.

Each night there have been large gatherings in the lounge, watching the Olympics and cheering on Michael Phelps to his 8 gold medals. It feels like a certain sense of "team" is forming as we celebrate these moments together. And just maybe, we are breathing a bit of the truth from 1 Cor 9:25: "they sacrifice everything to receive a gold medal, but we live in surrender to Christ 24/7 to receive an eternal reward. (My paraphrase)

What a privilege to be together in God's presence, in His amazing creation, preparing to believe Him for spiritual movements to be launched all over the world this year.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.