While I was in Atlanta, the 70s ROCKED at Quest! Way to go Questers…I missed you!!! Aren’t you loving My Generation? (Yes, that really was Highway to Hell in the Prelude!) Wish I could’ve been there to see it in person…

Helen Musick, Quest’s Transformation Pastor, taught from her generation:) this weekend. Here’s some of what she saw:

1. The icons of my youth… I wasn’t kidding when I said I did devotions this week with the 70s edition of People magazine. That was such a memorable time for me. I “survived” high school and college during that decade and I know I couldn’t have done it without Travolta, Farrah, platform shoes, Bowie, and “Love Story” (Love means never having to say you’re sorry–OMG!!). I got a clearer picture of how we all impact this world on some level. I’m so grateful for the way we get to impact this world for Jesus!

2. The 70s as the “in-between” time of life… for sure, the 70’s were caught “in-between” seasons of despair and confident expectation. We weren’t in the riots and turmoil of the 60s, nor were we in the excess and glitter of the 80s…we were somewhere in-between.  Not despairing, but not yet living in confident expectations of the future. As gas dried up at the pump, we were donning our platform shoes and boogying down to the Bee Gees. We were surviving. And the truth is…the “in-between” seasons of life are not limited to a decade, it comes with life. Paul’s words from Romans 5:3-5 gave us a map for navigating roads in life that are bumpy because of trials and problems.  And yet, we can rejoice, we get to pick. Because when we persevere, God does something in us through suffering that I’m not sure can be accomplished any other way: He develops our character to be like His…and hope is realized in life-giving ways.

3. Lonnie bringing it strong with “I Will Survive!” When that disco ball glowed throughout the room and we heard Lonnie belting out, “At first I was afraid, I was petrified,” I was sure I was back in college! And then to watch the whole room join in dancing and singing along with her… I just kept thinking to myself, “Oh my, I love my church!”

4. Resignation is not the plan. I talked to so many people who said, “This is exactly what I needed to hear for where I am in life.” The way we look at the future impacts the way we live out the present. So many of us slip into resignation so easily and forget that it’s not God’s plan. To know that we can have a confident expectation for more through Him lifted so many of us out of the malaise of resignation and into that place of hope that we were made to live in.

5. Don’t be surprised. A crazy little video that had a spiritual truth: “As you’re disco-ing down the dance floor of life, don’t be surprised when the disco ball falls on your head.”  The Bible tells us this is how it is in this world of brokenness. Yet, we can rest in the truth that this is not all there is…that God is in charge and that He loves us. Jesus is not real because He takes the trouble away, He is real because He did not abandon us to this brokenness but instead He chooses to join us in it, to walk with us through it, and to restore and redeem it for us.

6. An interesting ease in the room…I’ve never been in a church where people are so themselves, so relaxed, so happy to be there, so willing to do life together.  But what I sensed when I stood up on Sunday was something on another level.  I think this series, My Generation, is doing something so much deeper than I expected.  It’s like we are “for” each other in new ways. Like we (different age groups), are wanting to learn about each other and celebrate each other and what’s being unleashed in the room is a deeper love.  Didn’t know that was possible.

7. “God didn’t erase the tragedy, but He redeemed it.” This truth rang out in the room as Dan, shared his story of a marriage broken by adultery and mistrust that is now fully restored and thriving.  To listen to Dan and Amy share a story that most people, (especially in church!) don’t want to talk about, brought hope and healing for hundreds of people.  Dan has seen Jesus restore his life, marriage and family, he realized the gap was evidence of more than just a broken life–but of a soul separated from His heavenly Father. As God reconciled him with his wife and children, Dan realized he had not been reconciled to God and gave his life to Jesus just recently at the outdoor baptism. For Amy, someone who’d made the decision to surrender her life to Jesus long ago, she experienced faith and trust like she’d never known. Simply miraculous.

8. What it means to really trust God. Can you trust God even when there is no evidence of His movement in your life?? As people grappled with this question and what it would mean for their lives, we got to look to those faithful men and women in the bible who trusted God even though none of what He had promised to them came to pass in their lifetimes. And now, centuries later and for all time their faithfulness lives on as a beacon of hope to those of us who have so much and still seem to have such a hard time trusting the One who gave His life for us. Trusting God on these levels takes us to deeper places as followers and as a church. What does He have in store for us for this kind of faith? I could see that people were saying “yes” in their hearts to trusting Him, even when they can’t see.

9. Roller skates, platform shoes, and afros. Yes, THE STYLE of the 70’s was alive again at Quest Community Church. Anyerin in Dingo Boots and my own nephew in a leisure suit (that I think actually belonged to my brother!), brought back memories for all of us from this great decade! I’m not sure I’ll ever forget the sight of Joh Evans escorting people to their seats dressed in a red ruffled shirt tuxedo. Or Barry Frazier dressed in his bright red shirt with fringe on the sleeves and his green jeans that read on the back pockets “TOO” and “HOT” in beads that he had bedazzled himself.

10. Third Day, Jars of Clay and Group One Crew. What an announcement! Our full lineup for Questapalooza (check out the web sight www.qpza.com ) was announced!  The excitement for this great event went up a notch for everyone in the room.  This year’s qpza will be the best ever. What in the world does God have in store for the tri-city area that He would bring these kinds of bands to our city??? Are you all ready?

11.  When tragedies, problems or hard times come our way, we all find ourselves tempted to ask the question “Why me?” I’ve learned that there are two ways to ask that question.  One way is to ask it with a sense of resentment and anger, which only leads down the road to despair.  The other is to ask it out of a heart that wants to know why God would allow something hard or painful out of His love for us.  If everything He does is good… then even in the hard and stretching He must have something good for us.  It was an “Ah-ha” moment in the room.  I watched as people who had been stuck in grief and anger due to suffering they have had in life, mostly due to someone else’s poor choices, find strength and a next right step out of despair and into hope.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 9:43 AM and is filed under Guest Blogger, Weekend Reflections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.