Voice Conference

Hey everyone!  Just this weekend, from Thursday night to Saturday afternoon, I traveled to Taipei for a voice conference.  It's basically a reunion of sorts for those who attended voice in the States. Although, I did not attend voice in the States, I believe God was leading me to attend this conference. I really did not know why God wanted me to go, but I knew He wanted me to hear what He had to say.

most of the voice group 

The voice conference was mainly made up of Taiwanese and some Americans.  At the conference there were games and activities that we all had participated in.  One was a genre singing/skit competition.  My group had to rap a song about David (a person at the conference).  So we all got up and rapped about who David was.  It was a lot of fun, even though there were so many people, because I really do not preform in front of people, so it was a big leap.

Playing dutch blitz 

In addition to the activities there were sessions.  The conference sessions were focused on the Gospel revolution.  There were three sessions: first one was about our core identity should be that we are Christian and that the gospel should be first in our lives; the second one was about worship, and for this the speaker used the story in Luke 18:9-14 about the tax collector and the pharisee and their attitude about their sin and God's grace; the final session was about idols in our lives.  I learned a lot from all the sessions, but God especially wanted me to hear the last session, the one about idols.
The speaker spoke about idols in a way I do not believe I have heard or even considered before. When most people, including myself, think about idols they think about general things, like money and power.  Except most people have the idols that are not as obvious.  One way to uncover our idols is to ask these questions, how do you respond to unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes, what makes you lose control of your emotions-specifically anger, fear, despair, and guilt, and what you daydream about.  A good indicator of an idol in your life is if you feel fear and anxiety about the future, guilt for the past, and anger and despair for the present.  The speaker spoke of the idols we do not think are idols. God revealed to me two of the idols in my life.  One of them is my desires/plans.  Usually I plan out something or I have this one desire that I want to happen, and when it does not work the way I had planned, I get frustrated and angry.  This is an idol that replaces God because I am focusing on what I want to happen and striving for my goal, instead of letting God decide and focusing on what He desires for me.  The other idol I have is a little more complicated to explain, but I will try my best.  It is wanting to be accepted by others, but not just wanting, but constantly worrying about whether or not I'll offend someone or that I annoy people, or thinking people will not like me once they meet me. Another way to put it, it is the fear of rejection.  This is an idol because I am constantly putting my energy and time into trying my best to please others and make sure I do not irritate anyone.  This idol replaces God, because instead of focusing on Him, I am focusing on other people, and trying to please them when really I should be using all my energy to please God and bring him glory.  God sent his son to die for my sins, and if he loves my and cares for me that much, why should I care about what others think.
Also, I wanted to mention something I learned while reading the book of Joshua this weekend. In Joshua 9, it speaks about when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard about how Jericho and Ali had fallen to Israel and their God, they were afraid.  So they tricked Joshua into believing the were from a far away land and they made a covenant with Joshua that they would become Israels servants.  However, in verse 14 it says, "So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord." Three days go by and Joshua and the people of Israel realize that the Gibeonites were not from a far away land but their neighbors.  I could not help but think that if Joshua had only asked God first, then that whole situation would not have come up.  I kept questioning, why on earth would Joshua not ask God, what was he thinking.  However, I realized that I have done the same thing many-a-times.  It's easy to read about it and say, yes that person should did this, or avoided that.  But looking at my life I realize how little I actually go to God first before I just go do something that affects my life and future.  It was a very humbling verse.
Then today, to top off the weekend, my team treated me to dinner for my birthday at this amazing Japanese restaurant.  Something about turning 20, it makes me feel old.  It has been a good weekend!

Christy and Angela