Back...

Just got home from the conference a few minutes ago. Hubby and kids aren't home from the beach yet, so I have a few quiet minutes to reflect.

I hope any of you who have dropped by here recently took the time to check out some of what went on at the conference. Sometimes I know it's hard to be interested if you're not there but it really was an amazing thing.

I'm just going to post some random reflection/highlights, hope to go through my notes more thoroughly this week.

Revolution Conference: Day 2

The day started out great. Felt great (although a little tired) . Brian McLaren spoke first thing in the morning, and one thing he said that really got me (and this is not a word-for-word quote but just the gist of the idea):

The bible is like a puzzle where the box you have with the picture on it isn't the picture that the pieces really make. In other words, we have a box with a picture of one thing, but the pieces don't match the box at all. So we have to try to figure out what the pieces will look like when put together. This is essentially about preconceived notions.

We later heard Nancy Murphy from Northwest Family Life. NWFL deals with counseling people who have experienced familial abuse. Nancy wanted to play a recording for us of a 911 (911 the emergency phone number, not 9/11) recording of a 6 year old girl who was at that moment witnessing violence in her home.

Before Nancy played it, she asked that anyone who had children at the conference (there were a few) take them out of the room. She said the tape was about 3 1/2 minutes long.

This is going to be one of the most talked about moments from the entire weekend ... the girl was screaming and almost incoherent. You have to imagine her wailing. Her words were long and drawn out screams.

"Don't! Stop it! Stop fighting!!!! Don't hurt her!!! DON'T HURT HER!!

In between phrases she was sobbing and wailing.

And then her most anguished cry ... I've never heard anything like this out of a child, both the words and the incredible, overwhelming terror in her voice ...

"Please don't touch the baby! PLEASE don't touch the baby ... not the BABY...!!!!!

The 911 operator was trying to draw bits and pieces of information out of her, but finally, I assume because the operator could hear the sounds in the background, she just said "we're sending someone to help you right now".

The tape suddenly ended there, after only about 1 minute. The audio people said that was all they were able to play because of technical difficulties. I believe God intervened for some reason, maybe there was someone in the room who would not have been able to deal with the rest of it. Nonetheless, in a short minute, we all got the message.

We sat in stunned silence, only the sound of someone weeping close by me could be heard.

I think it was one of the most powerful moments in my life.

OK. Deep breath.



About 10:30 AM, guess what? I got a migraine! What nasty timing! I immediately took one on my new prescription pills, though, and was fairly well able to cope. But for awhile, I was pretty checked out, with little notes or memory of what went on during that time.

I did go to a workshop by Ken and Deborah Loyd, pastors of The Bridge here in Portland. I wasn't able to take any notes ( the light was bothering me so I had to keep my eyes closed) , but I did really enjoy hearing about their experiences as church planters and working with homeless youth.

After lunch, by about 1:30, I was much better.

There was an afternoon wrap-up panel, and one thing that (from everyone I talked to) that was really powerful and moving was Jason Clark's brief and transparent comment about being a survivor of domestic violence. He spoke of how thankful he was that Jesus found him, and then he recounted a story of returning home from some travels, getting off the plane, and seeing his kids running towards him yelling "Daddy Daddy!", and how that moment was healing for him.

I have to say that attending a conference like this is usually out of my element. I told Pam that I would probably tag along with her quite a bit, and I did. But I have to say that tagging along with someone as outgoing as she is, I had the opportunity to meet a number of great people. I did meet a few of the speakers, but more importantly I met quite a few fascinating "ordinary" people. I gleaned more encouragement from these people than from the keynote speakers. Not because there was anything wrong with the speaking, but because it's easier to relate with someone who is just like me than someone who is famous.

This afternoon Pam and I visited the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. This was an experience in itself, and I fairly felt like meditating afterwords. To see in person some of these historic and sacred documents was nearly overwhelming. To see in printed script, on a document that is over 2000 years old, the name of God "I AM who I AM" left me speechless. One thing that was a stark contrast for me: that these people who wrote/scribed these texts lived such a reverent, holy life. It's strange to examine habits like ritual cleansing after coming from a conference where people say "fuck". I don't mean anything by that except it was somewhat conflicting.

Well my brain is fried for the night. I know my impressions and AHA moments will come out in fragments over the next week or two, please bear with me as I process.

Goodnight.