It is 12:18 AM. You're reading this much later I'm sure, but I am up and awake, in spite of my desperately wanting to be asleep.
Part of the inability to sleep is that I am at the New Wilmington Mission Conference. I'm up here speaking to the high school group each and every night, which I love. But being here means that I'm away from my sweet Sarah, and the twin boys, and that just feels wrong to me. I'm missing them a lot.
It's also 900 degrees outside. That's only a slight exaggeration.
I also may or may not have gone to Mugsies, a local coffee shop, shortly before climbing into bed. It might be a while before the caffeine wears off and I'm finally able to get to sleep.
But I think honestly what's keeping me up is this low level excitement that has been present the whole way through the conference. I've been reading a lot of Andrew Root lately, who focuses much of his theology on the practice and action of God, and our participation in it. Coming to a conference like this is like God's action overload. One night you're seeing what God is doing in the US Government about Malaria prevention, the next you're talking to folks who have spent long swaths of time in Cuba, and then you're off to hear about the oppression and struggle of the Christians of Palestine. You spend time in the mornings working with kids who are struggling through a difficult conversation about race, and then in the evenings hear bright students asking questions about the talks you could have sworn were air tight, but seeing God work through them all the same.
The truth of the matter is while it's still early, I don't know if you could come to this conference and not see God acting in the world. I don't know if you could come to this conference and not see God inviting you into participation in God's action. I don't know if you could come here and be able to sleep on time and on schedule. I only hope that eventually I can close my eyes for 40 winks, because I've got another rich full day ahead of me tomorrow.
For more information on the NWMC, or to watch live streams of some of the events, go to http://www.nwmcmission.org