ASC 2012

We are back from Florida and sadly I barely took any pictures! I really need to get better at taking pictures, because pictures are one of my favorite ways to tell our story.  Although, this time I don't think pictures or words can encompass what I learned in the last week. At Young Life's All Staff Conference I was able to be in a room with 4000 people who share in the same mission that Mikie and I do! That mission is simply to love God and love others. We were able to hear from some of the people who God has touched through the ministry of Young Life. My favorite of course, was a boy named Michael. Michael and his mom gracefully helped us understand what his life looks like with Downs Syndrome. Michael beautifully articulated to us the impact Young Life’s ministry for special needs called Capernaum has had on his life. The thing that I remember so vividly is the simplicity of the message Michael shared with us. Michael told us that at young life he feels welcome, I thought to myself ‘ I wonder how many times Michael has not felt welcome in places’. It saddens me to think and know that Michael probably does not feel welcome in the majority of the places he has been, and the places he will go.  I thought to myself how wonderful that in our ability to love others we can provide a place that makes a person that is culturally marginalized, feel so welcome and worthy of acceptance. The ability to love others is an amazing gift and I am learning we cannot let it go to waste. This is one of the many lessons I learned as I listened to others speak about being loved apart from condition, and being loved so deeply that their  hearts have been transformed. Aside from my brain wanting to explode from so much new knowledge and realizations we had a blast. The first night of the conference we were surprised by a trip to SeaWorld. Sea world was opend only for Young Life staff! This was super awesome and it meant no lines! Almost unbelievable right?! We took full advantage of this gift, and rode roller coasters over and over and over again! So here are some pictures, hope you enjoy!