Wednesday, May 21, 2014

CAFO - Summit 2014



Jeremy and I were blessed to attend CAFO's summit again this year. We found crazy good airfare (umm, like $105 round trip, good - thank you Spirit!) and thus we decided to go again. On the flight up to Chicago we talked about whether we thought it was going to be "as good" as last year; and, whether we thought it would impact our lives as much as last year. We came to the consensus - that sure, it was going to be good, but we just didn't see how it could encourage us as much as the year before, simply because we were just in a different place.

But, oh were we wrong - - - it.blew.us.away... again! We received incredible encouragement and learned tons of new things. There simply are no words to describe the feeling of being surrounded by so many people who are like-minded, and ultimately love Christ.

One of my favorite aspects about this year was the celebration of nations, tongues, and tribes. There were 35 countries represented this year at Summit. Even more inspiring was that many people who prayed during the Summit would pray first in English and then finish by praying in their native language. We even had the privilege and experience of worshiping in Portuguese and Korean (these were the two languages of one worship leader and special guest). Another aspect that I greatly appreciated was that CAFO invited and encouraged dialogue amongst people with differing views, as well as, confronted the criticisms of the Christian orphan care movement head-on with wisdom and grace.

All in all, the words of Dr. Russell Moore in an article he posted about this year's summit not only resonate deeply with me, but describe my feelings about the summit best- "Every year that I come to this summit, I’m reminded of just how indebted I am to be part of this group of extraordinary people, people of whom I’m not worthy" (para 7). [Read his whole article here.]

Yes, there are times when this journey is long and hard. But everyday, in the quiet place of my spirit, when I turn my eyes back to Jesus and focus on Him, I'm in awe that He trusted us with the calling to adopt as we grow our family - and I'm so grateful His thoughts and ways are higher than mine.

 

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