Day 64: Mind blowing

Today was very good. Despite the fact that I had to get to school at 6:45 for production training, it was a lot of fun. The soundboard Hillsong has is intimidating. Seriously intimidating. Old Testament was amazing as usual; allow me to explain why:

Catrina spoke on the Covenant, as in the covenants God made in the Old Testament. It turns out there's a pattern that these covenants followed: First creation, then sin, then judgment, then grace. Of course it started with Adam and Eve, but that pattern carries on throughout Genesis. For example, after A&E, there was Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel, that being sin. Cain gets punished for what he did, that being judgement. Adam's other son, Seth, is the first recorded account of someone that loved the Lord, that being grace. Then we get to all these people that don't care about God. So what does He do? He causes a flood to wipe everyone out. Everyone but Noah, his sons, and their wives. Later on, that same pattern goes with Noah's sons; Shem goes with the Lord, and his other brothers don't. Anyways, it's a good pattern. What really got me was this part of explaining the process of a covenant. First there's the words, speaking the promise. Then there's the act of making the covenant, which during those times had a big process using animal sacrifice and such. Then there's a mark or scar that's made to signify that a covenant has been made; basically in example that whatever one person asks of the other, that person must do in equal. After that is a test of the covenant, to test the trust and loyalty made by the covenant. Lastly, the covenant is fulfilled. The best example of this process is Abraham: In Genesis 15, God spoke the words of His covenant. In Genesis 17: the act (being circumcision) is carried out. In Genesis 22, the test is carried out when Abraham is asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Here's the part that got me: Catrina was explaining this whole scene, and then she said this: "Keep in mind that when you made a covenant, if you asked the other person to do something, you had to do the same yourself. Does that sound any familiar???? If God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God would also have to make a similar sacrifice as well. How crazy is THAT?!?!?!?! Even thousands of years before the prophecy of Christ's arrival, He had it set up. That just blew me away; just goes to show, my God is a God of promise and of glory. In Genesis 24-50, the covenant is partially fulfilled through Isaac, Jacob (and later Israel), and Joseph. He is just so incredible. I could stop this blog right here.... but I'm not done yet!

After that awe-inspiring class, we had chapel. This is when I got to see exactly how these production people handle all the sound mixing, lighting, camera and media, and other things that create the atmosphere of worship during chapel; it's awesome. I want to try it again; I hope I get another opportunity. After a great lunch, composed of a beef kebab with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and barbecue sauce AND a Dr. Pepper, we had a Personal Leadership tutorial, which is now one of my favorite classes. We had SO much fun; because of this course, my love for art has been reborn. I get a chance to draw something for someone every week, and I love it. God even made space for me to use my first love in college; how great He is for that! After class, we had practice with the band to go over the performance. So far, I think we got it down pretty well; we just have to work a little on the bridge. Other than that, we're gonna have a lot of fun.

Other than that, the day was a major success; thanks God!

Hope you all have a good Friday!
Steven