Living Proof Live Toronto March 2010

Okay, here's the scoop on the LPL event....


We got there before the doors opened, adorned with our pink boa's. Up until then the weather had been warm but all of a sudden that day, it got really windy, rainy and cold, and we had to wait in line for about 30 minutes.

Before we got there we talked about seating strategy, so we had a few girls run ahead to grab seats in the centre, on the floor, as close to the front as possible.
Have any of you ever been to a LPL event?  I'm sure this was one of the smallest ones - 3,400 women.  When I went to Charleston, W.Va in  2007, I think there were at least 7,000 there.

Travis and the team taught that song "Do it Lord, Do it Lord, Do it Lord, we are praying, Do it Lord, DO IT, that Your Glory may be seen", so I have that still reverberating through my head!

When Beth came out, she came off the stage and started to walk down the left aisle.  I had told the women that if she does that, to wave their boas to get her attention, which they did.  She came over and spoke to one of the women and said she loved the boas (as if she's never seen them before) and the woman gave Beth the boa which she graciously accepted and then tied it to the podium later on. 

Just about the time she was taking the boa, I noticed that she had a Tim Horton's gift card in her hand.  For some of you, that means nothing, but here in Canada, Tim Horton's is a Canadian icon.  They are a huge chain of Coffee/Donut stores and they are just a way of life here. 

I really love their coffee, so after the SMT Celebration, I sent Beth and her staff a letter thanking them for the event, and as a welcome to Toronto in March, I included a Tim Horton's gift card and said that the first thing all of us do when we get off the plane after a flight, is head straight to a Tim Hortons, so if they wanted a true Canadian experience, thats what she and her entourage should do.  I also included a pair of Canadian "olympic" mittens, that everyone was wearing during the Olympics, and I told her that in March it can be quite cold here, and Wayne Gretzky even wore these mitts during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

Anyways, I have to admit that when I didn't receive a response or an email about my letter, I was pretty disappointed.  But then I rationalized that she receives so many letters and gifts, she can't respond to every one.  Kind of like the comments on her blog.  By Friday I had forgotten all about it, in the excitement of everything else. And then when she came down and I saw the Tim's card in her hand I thought "I guess someone else sent her a Tim's card too" but then just as I was thinking that, I also saw that she had a bright green sheet of paper in her hand, and I remembered that I'd written the letter on that colour of paper.  And the next thing I knew she said   "Is Judi here????"  

Of course I jumped up and waved at her.  And then. shock of all shocks, she came straight over and gave me a hug and said  "Bless your heart, you came all the way to Houston for the Scripture Memory Celebration".

(definitely not my best side) (and notice how the cameraman got it up on the videotron too!)

My girlfriend was trying to get my camera to work to get a picture, but she was hitting the wrong button.  So these pictures were all taken on another woman's phone camera.  Thank you, God, for cellphones with cameras!!!!

After that she went back up to the stage and tied the boa to the podium.

It tood me a while to recover from all that!!!!

Of course, the best was yet to come.  Her message was called "I'm Up to Something New" and she spoke on Isaiah 43: 18-19  which were her memory verses for January of this year.  "Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. " 
She memorized it in The Message version:  "Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history.   Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?   There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands."

Her main points were:

1) God is up to something new.

2)  God rarely does a new thing the old way.  She talked about how in vv  16 and 17, they were dwelling on what God had done when He redeemed them from Egypt.  This time they were in captivity in Babylon, but God told them He was going to deliver them, but in a new way:  a sea in the desert instead of a desert in the sea.

3) God an do something brand new in an old place (with an "old" person, in an old problem)  We don't always have to start in a physically new place for God to do something new.

On Saturday morning, she talked about the parable of the new wine in old wineskins in Luke 5:38.

4)  Just patching up the old won't result in something new.

5) We too must be up to something new.  We need to receive the newness and walk in a fresh path.  She took us to Lamentations 3:22-23 "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness," and made a profound statement:  "Anything I continue to rehearse is going to define my mood."  I may not be able to change how

I feel, but I can call to mind a new way of thinking so that my downcast spiral will have hope.
6) God grants new mercies for each new day.  In God's self-disclosure in Exodus 34, the first thing he said about Himself is "I am compassionate"
7) One day we'll go from a new thing to a New Everything  (Rev 21: 1-5 & 2 Cor 5:17)

I think this picture sums up the weekend so beautifully:  Girlfriends worshipping together and supporting one another in our journey of faith.......