On the third day

Thursday morning we were so tired that we over slept. Prayer was at 9am. I woke up at 9:07 to a totally quiet house! I quickly woke Aaron up and thought for sure Beth was asleep too. When I went into her room, she was no where to be found! Shortly after, I found her ready and asleep on the couch waiting for us! Aaron and I threw our clothes on and made it before worship started for the first session. Keith Tucci spoke, a father in the faith. I couldn't believe all that he had been through in his life. He spoke on Unity. The way to being unified with Jesus is through obedience and death to popularity. He called it loneliness. We have to be o.k. with being lonely because in those times we become o.k. with ourselves. It was a perfect message for people in ministry. As a minister or a minister's wife, you must be o.k. with standing alone in a crowd to say and do what Jesus tells you to do. You can not be driven by the crowds or their opinions. I live for One because One died for me. After it ended, a few of our youth leaders went with another church to see the sights of New Orleans in the French Quarter. We walked and talked for hours! The night ended with Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. I forgot to mention the beach ball explosion Wednesday night! It was CRAZY!!!! During the last song of worship, we released 300 black and white beach balls into the crowd from behind. No one expected it and they went nuts. It was like a swarm of bees beach ball size. It was a perfect ending to the night. The conference was definately a huge success. We are already planning the next one! Today I'm off with Beth and my three boys to TWO birthday parties - one in the morning and one this afternoon in two different cities about an hour apart. In between we have to drop Beth off at the airport. We will miss her. She was the perfect house guest. For now, it's back to business as usual, but not for long. Up next, we are going on a church staff retreat and then a missions trip to Chicago.