Chinese Orphans and David Crowder's Guitar

So here I am in Atlanta for my what now seems like a tradition of going to Passion. This is my fourth year going and Im going to be honest, I wasn't looking forward too much for this year because it has a very similar feel every year.

For those who don't know, Passion 2010 is where I decided to follow Christ....look up my blog about the wonderful Susan Jones on here to read more about my path to Passion.


Anyways, so tonight as the session began, the Lord really put a little boy that I saw on the other side of the world a little over a year ago when I was in China. He was an orphan. Not only was he an orphan but he had a physical deformity in which he was born with his foot backwards....

In China, being born with a physical or mental problem pretty much means youre either going to be left alone to fend for yourself or youll live out your life in an orphanage. I don't know this little boy's name and we weren't allowed to take pictures of them but from the moment I saw him, he touched my heart. I have to be honest, ever since leaving China I haven't really thought about that little boy as much.....until tonight.

At the beginning of the session, I was overwhelmed with grief for this little boy. I remembered how torn up I was in China knowing that most of the kids in the orphanage probably weren't going to leave unless an international couple adopted them. I pictured that little boy and his HUGE smile tonight. God laid him on my heart for some reason and I don't know why but all I can do is pray and trust that God has a plan for him. All of this happened before the session started.

I ask that whatever you do, take a moment and stop an pray for this little boy and all of the orphans of this world. Pray that they come to know their heavenly father and even though they don't have earthly parents yet, their heavenly Father always has them in His arms and won't ever let go...


So that was the beginning, thats how God got my attention for the night.


This leads me to Louie's talk.

It was on the Old Testament Book Of Ezekiel and Louie started it off by basically saying, there are people in here that walked in here with a lot of junk...He even mentioned a guy who tweeted that at Passion last year he got high on the first day but has been clean for a year thanks to how God worked in his life last year. Then he opened the Word of God with this:


I will take you  from the nations and gather you from all the countries and  bring you into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from  all your uncleannesses, and  from all your idols  I will cleanse you.  And I will give you  a new heart, and  a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you,  and cause you to walk in my statutes and  be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:24-27 ESV)

Followed by this quote:

"Its not about life improvement, it's about God intervening when we are foolish"

I have to confess. I have been extremely foolish this past year both in my life and my faith. So once again, God got my attention. I had prayed this past week to use this year's Passion to truly break me down and get to me, and on night one, He intervened.

By this point, I couldn't help but to think about how I let God down this past year. Louie began talking about how people believe in God but only really trust that he can do immeasurable things maybe 10% or 20% with the remainder being unbelief.  BOOM....right on the nail. That was me. This past year, more specifically this past semester, I've felt alone and extremely distant from God, but figured if I tried to do "life improvement" life would somehow get better...

I didn't believe in my faith 100%. I didn't believe that God could do immeasurable things in my life, in my family's life, or in Charleston Young Life. My heart for him had been turning to stone and I felt it. Tonight, as Louie kept talking I couldn't help but be overwhelmed. With tears going down my cheeks, I was talking to God for the first time in a long time. For the first time in a long time, the Word was living, and God used it to speak to me.


But thats not the end....Louie continued with this passage...

The hand of the  Lord  was upon me, and  he brought me out in the Spirit of the  Lord  and set me down in the middle of the valley;  it was full of bones.  And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.  And he said to me,  Son of man,  can these bones live?  And  I answered,  O Lord  God , you know.    Then he said to me,  Prophesy over these bones, and say to them,  O dry bones, hear the word of the  Lord .  Thus says the Lord  God  to these bones: Behold, I will cause  breath  to enter you, and you shall live.  And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and  cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live,  and you shall know that I am the  Lord . (Ezekiel 37:1-6 ESV)


I was in the Valley with the dry bones.....looking at God and constantly asking why and not believing that he could make those bones come to life. I was trying to answer God when he asked if I believed that he could make the bones live. I was too focused on the dry bones and the valley rather than on Christ himself. Honestly, I didn't believe 100%, but then tonight, God intervened.




As I was sitting down, crying out to God. I kept praying, "Give me a sign, Lord...I know You're here but my faith needs a sign. Turn these dry bones into life. Intervene because I have been extremely foolish." As I was sitting, my brother, my best friend, Leland, sat down and prayed over me. Overwhelmed even more, I looked up and through my tear filled eyes I saw David Crowder on the screen. He was holding his guitar.

Im sure you're asking what so special about David Crowder holding his guitar?   Remember when I said I asked for a sign, well I got one loud and clear because across Crowder's guitar was written "RAY". I know its not how I spell my name but the Lord used it. It is the clearest I have EVER heard Him speak.

He took my dry bones and my hard heart and breathed into them life.


He rescued my faith. He embraced me.

And this is only night 1.....