Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Passion Conference 2014 HOU


I've been waiting for this day for months. At 8:30 am, my parents, my friend Cici, and I loaded up the car to head to Houston. In Houston was Passion Conference. It's a big Christian college conference put on by Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin. It's usually in Atlanta, but this year there was one in Houston too.

Love this place 
This is inside the store. I've never noticed it before.
We stopped at Buc-cees on the way there and back, because it's a great place.

We then drove the rest of the way to Houston. When we got there, we decided to go ahead and quickly head out to the Toyota Center. We walked to look for food on the way.

Our hotel used to be a bank. I didn't get a picture of the vault door.
I liked the sink.
It had a cool vintage-y-retro-y feel to it.
It was about a mile walk to the center.
I found the Houston newspaper office! 
The center was downtown in the business district, so it was hard to find food. Everything closed mid afternoon. This place was open though! 
Potato soup <3
We ended up stopping at some Mexican place. It was pretty much like a Mexican Parkway Grill. It was good. I had potato soup. 

Then, we continued the walk to the center. We got there and saw a huge clump of people.

#enditmovement
We joined the clump for a bit, but then decided we had an hour to wait. We walked around the building. On the other side, there was an organized system with two forming lines. 

We waited in line for a while, and then they finally let us inside. We rushed inside and tried to figure out the best seats. Did we want to sit on the floor? Did we want to sit in the center? We pretty much had first pick, so we settled for some seats about five rows from the ground, diagonal to the stage. We could see everything!
Our view for every session
There was a group that was starting the youth group classics: the wave and the roller coaster. The wave was going good for a few minutes, but the roller coaster never really caught on. 

We wore our badges the entire time we were there.
Then it was time. We had speculated all day about who would be the first speaker and singer. It ended up being a huge group that included Crowder, Chris Tomlin, and Kristian Stanfill on worship and Louie Giglio on the message.

Over 17,000 students were here. They sold out.
You have to kick off with confetti, right?
Chris Tomlin
Louie faced away from us during the message, so I didn't get a picture of him. 

His main message was "How do I know if I've seen Jesus?"
  • It's not the cross, but your cross.
  • You know God was not a passive bystander at the cross; he was the instigator of the wrath.
  • You know God's wrath poured out on Christ obliterated our curse.
  • You know your past is gone.
  • We see we are crushed by God's grace.
When he was done speaking, Hillsong United came out and did a worship set. I love Hillsong. After that, we got a taxi and headed back to the hotel at around 1 am.

The next morning came sooner than I wanted. We were back at the center by 8 to get seats for the 9:30 session. It started with Crowder and he was amazing. Then Shelley Giglio came out and introduced some special guests.

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, the creators of "The Bible" series.
Jesus was there too.
After they spoke to us and encouraged us to see their new movie Son of God, it was Francis Chan's turn.
I love Francis Chan.
Chan is one of my favorite speakers. I heard him at a DNOW I went to several years back. We went to a conference and he and Kristian Stanfill were both there.

He spoke on the fact that no one is more godly than anyone else. Everyone is at the exact same level.

Beth Moore
Beth Moore talked about time. She spoke on living the dash between birth and death. She spoke on how time is getting anxious for the coming of Christ.

The curator of the American Bible Society
I don't know how to spell her name, but it sounds like Dr. Leona Lupus. She's a little, old western European lady. She brought the first Bible printed in America. It's in an extinct Native American language. They wouldn't tell us how she got it to Houston.

Genesis in the Native American language
I bought every book except for Beth Moore's. It was hardback and I didn't want to carry it. So far, I've read the blue one and am working on the colorful one.
I'm definitely going back next year. 




Friday, February 7, 2014

Bucket List

Lately, I've been seeing a lot about bucket lists on Facebook, more specifically in a few groups I'm in. I've never really had a bucket list. I've always said things were on it, but I'd never made one. Well, I made one. I followed Ryan Eller's format, bucket list by threes, but slightly modified it by putting literally everything I want to do in the categories instead of just three things. I think I have around 120 items as of today (2/6/14,) but will add to it as I think of more things. Of course the travel and adventure categories are the longest!

Travel
  1. Set Foot on North America (X), South America, Asia, Europe (X), Australia, Antartica and Africa
  2. Visit Harry Potter World
  3. Visit every Hillsong church
  4. Fly first class on an overnight flight
  5. See a Broadway show
  6. See a West End show
  7. Walk along the Hollywood Walk of Fame (December 2013)
  8. Travel alone (June 2013 London)
  9. Visit the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff (July 2013)
  10. Visit a castle (July 18, 2013 Highclere Castle, London)
  11. Visit Italy and see where my family is from
  12. Spend New Year’s Eve in Times Square
  13. Have a meal at an outdoor Parisian cafe
  14. Ride the London Eye (July 2013)
  15. Ride a Double Decker Bus in London (July 2013)
  16. Visit a concentration camp
  17. Take an Alaska cruise
  18. See a live mariachi band (March 2013 Puerto Vallarta)
  19. Ride a cable car in San Francisco
  20. Walk a length of the Great Wall of China 
  21. See Mt. Rushmore
  22. Stay at a 5-star hotel
  23. See Stonehenge 
  24. Stand next to a pyramid
  25. Ride a Gondola in Venice
  26. See the Northern Lights
  27. Kiss on top the Eiffel Tower 
  28. Visit the Hoover Dam 
  29. Climb Chichen Itza
  30. Stand beside the Christ the Redeemer statue
  31. Walk around the Colosseum in Rome 
  32. Visit Machu Picchu
  33. Visit Petra
  34. Take a picture in front of the Taj Mahal
  35. Travel to Jerusalem
  36. Watch the sunset on a beach 
  37. Go to all 50 U.S. States
  38. Go on a cruise 
  39. Drive through a Redwood Tree
  40. Go to the Olympic Games

Adventure
  1. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon 
  2. Swim with a Dolphin (2012 Cozumel)
  3. Watch a Space Shuttle Launch
  4. Scuba Dive
  5. Take a long train ride (July 2013 London) 
  6. Go to Space
  7. Visit the rainforest (2010 Costa Rica)
  8. Shower in a Waterfall
  9. Spend the night in a haunted place  (Wichita Theatre)
  10. See a Lunar Eclipse 
  11. Drive Across America Coast-to-Coast
  12. Go Snow Skiing (Angel Fire)
  13. Ride an elephant
  14. Sleep under the stars 
  15. Go white-water rafting 
  16. Go Deep Sea Fishing
  17. Eat strange meat (July 2013 Kangaroo in London)
  18. Swim with sharks
  19. Experience weightlessness
  20. Go to a bull fight
  21. Go to an active volcano
  22. Travel on a safari
  23. Ride a Segway
  24. Go hunting
  25. Go treasure hunting
  26. Surf the waves in Hawaii
  27. Go to a NASCAR race
  28. Go to the racecourse
  29. Drive Route 66
  30. Pan for gold
Educational 
  1. Write an Autobiography
  2. Learn to Ballroom Dance
  3. Learn to Legitimately Play a Song on any Musical Instrument
  4. Get a book published
  5. Take a photography class 
  6. Learn to Juggle
  7. Visit the White House
  8. Take a historical tour of Jamestown
Family
  1. Own a home with a veranda
  2. Grow a garden and eat the produce
  3. Create a Family Tree
Volunteer
  1. Plant a Tree (March 2010 Costa Rica) 
  2. Visit an orphanage in a foreign country
  3. Do a mission trip in a third world country
Physical
  1. Be coached by a professional
  2. Have a six-pack
  3. Successfully complete a double under
  4. Pierce my ears
  5. Run a straight mile
  6. Do a strict pull-up
  7. Run a mile, 5k, half-marathon
  8. Take a yoga class 
  9. Complete a bodyweight clean and jerk
Lucky

  1. Know a famous person personally
  2. Be an Extra in a Film
  3. Be a Member of a Studio Audience
  4. Hit a hole-in-one
  5. Walk the red carpet at a huge event
  6. Meet someone famous randomly
  7. Shake hands with a President
  8. Set a World Record
  9. Be on a game show 
  10. Be on a Reality TV show


Random
  1. Sit on a Jury
  2. Own a record player
  3. Write my will
  4. Enjoy a real cup of tea 
  5. Give a great present 
  6. Go to a drive-in movie theater 
  7. Get a standing ovation
  8. Own a pet monkey 
  9. Get something patented