I had just returned from an amazing weekend in Houston. I went there to attend the Living Proof Live "Scripture Memory Team" celebration event at Houston's First Baptist Church. It was hosted by Beth Moore and her Living Proof Live team. The challenge was put out (on her Blog) back at the beginning of 2009, to commit to memorizing 2 Scripture verses a month, for the next 12 months. Scripture memory was something I was working on anyway, so I decided to join in the fun. Then at the end of the summer, Beth announced that the ones who had stuck with it were all invited to a celebration event in January 2010!!! It was great incentive to keep going and keep hiding those verses in my heart!
Beth suggested we go to Walmart and purchase a spiral bound set of index cards. At the event, she quipped: "On the eighth day, God created spirals".
I feel a little sad about retiring my spiral, which is filled with 24 assorted verses, because each verse was chosen because of something I was going through, or something that God was working on my heart about. So if you look through my spiral, or hear me say my verses, its almost like reading a journal of the past year of my life!
Amanda did such a great job of recapping the weekend, so I'll let you read her thoughts
I flew in on Thursday and got to Houston around 6 pm. Just in time to pick up a rental car and battle the rush hour traffic to the hotel! I took my husband's GPS with me, which got me to the general vicinity of the hotel ok, but I couldn't figure out which building was the hotel - it was set in an area of highrise office buildings and didn't have the name on the front of the building. After circling around a few times, I finally figured it out and decided I might as well go to the free parking garage and park there (BAD idea! Hint: always drop your bags off at the front door of the hotel and check in first, then go and park later. I should know this - I'm a travel agent!)
Well, I drove to the parking garage, hauled my bags out of the car and walked around looking for the hotel lobby, but couldn't find it anywhere. The parking garage was deserted and the signage wasn't very good.
So I ended up phoning the hotel from the walkway and told them I was "lost". As soon as that word came out of my mouth, I was in tears. They had to send a security guy out to find me.
Pooor security guy - having to deal with a woman in meltdown mode!!!
Anyways, the checkin was uneventful, and the beautiful room overlooking more than made up for my earlier frustrations.
What's more, the next day dawned sunny and warm - a great morning for going for a walk and then sitting by the pool, meeting other Siestas in their pink boas, and practising our verses with one another.
Nicole and Sandi:
Yep, that's me with my pink boa, going over my verses!
I was so pleased to meet up with some Siestas in the hotel hallway who invited me to come with them for dinner at another Mexican restaurant, closer to the church (I can't remember the name of it!)
Robin, Judi, Danelle, Sandi, Judy & Nicole
After dinner when we got to the church, the room was abuzz with so many women - 500 to be exact!! We were still able to locate Nicole's roommate Lynn and my roommate Georgine! Funny how just by seeing one another on the blog, we could recognize one another! Oh yeah, the nametags helped too...
Lynn meets Nicole:
My roommate Georgine, a true Texan with her cowboy boots!
A trio of Siestas to bejewelled their own t-shirts! Neat idea!
Beth brought the message, based on Psalm 119 (176 verses in an acrostic of 22 sections of 8, containing 70 prayer requests!) and the Psalm was a fitting end to our year of memorization.
The message was, in a sentence:
I'm a resident alien.....seeking direction....in deep want of wonder......in peril and need....troubled by humanity....especially my own....knowing that to follow is the only free road....for a straying sheep longing to be found.
At the close of the session, we were treated to flavoured coffees and Texas sheet cake.
Back to the hotel, and I honestly can't remember what all we did, besides visit with Siestas !
Saturday morning, we arrived at the church at 8am so that we could enjoy Texan breakfast tacos.....mmmmm. The session started off with Beth, Melissa and Amanda drawing names for giveaways, and also bestowing prizes for the best "blogging names"......(note to self: change the name of my blog to something more creative).
Travis led us to worship again.....what a gifted leader and musician! He introduced us to his band, all wrapped up inside his iPod!
When Beth came to speak, our hearts were ready and open to receive what God had for us. Afterwards, we paired up with partners and said our verses to one another. That was a real blessing, as Georgine (my roommate) & I were partners. It was really neat to see how God had been speaking to her throughout the year, by listening to the verses He had laid on her heart.
Some of the women I sat with on Saturday: Georgine, Soozi & Danelle
When we came back into the fellowship hall, Travis led us in worship again before the event wrapped up. I honestly did not want it to end. As we were singing in praise to God, and singing "Revelation Song", when we came to the line "You are my EVERYTHING", I felt the LORD asking me: "Am I, really??" I thought of the areas in my life that I have not totally surrendered to God, and asked myself "If God is everything to me, then can I not surrender this thing to Him?" Right there I prayed a prayer of dedication, committing myself to turning to His Word whenever I am tempted to fill myself up with other things.
After the event, Judy, our "Houston Hostess", took us to P.F. Chang's for lunch (mmmm....those lettuce wraps are my favourite!)
Then a few of us went to the Galleria Mall to shop and meet up with other Siestas. Because lunch was so filling and fairly late, I couldn't eat dinner - but also because I knew we were going to The Chocolate Bar for dessert & coffee with a whole bunch of other Siestas. It was difficult to decide between all the decadent desserts, so Lynn, Nicole & I each got a different one, and sampled each others'!
Brigette on the other side of the camera:
I think the staff and patrons of The Chocolate Bar wondered who all these women were who were taking over the place. It certainly was packed out!
After coming back to the hotel, we decided to check out the hospitality suite, which we hadn't seen up till now. Very classy!!! (That's Sandi sitting on the couch)
