u09 reflections & praises, part I

A month ago today, I celebrated His Birth by driving down to St. Louis with three of my colleagues. I remember the very moment the warmly lit up Arch came into view. It was a special moment, when the years of dreaming became reality and I felt Him whisper, "It's here! Welcome, Daughter."

And then the week came and went, in what feels like a blink of an eye. Throughout the next couple months, I plan to get over this self-imposed writer's block (read: laziness) and record the snapshots of significant moments, emotions I felt during those moments (very important for a flaming F) and praises that I have heard or experienced since then. So here it goes...

On Abundance-
A recurring key word this year was "abundance." In light of the economic conditions, limited resources (registration #s, available volunteers, budget adjustments, etc) was a constant reality. Yet the God we studied in the book of John and encountered throughout the year was an extravagant, prodigal (no, it does not mean "runaway." At least, that's what I thought it meant :P) God who turned 120+ gallons of water into wine for a party that probably had many guests already happily inebriated. A God who recklessly chose to give up His limitless power and sovereignty to come down and live amongst the sick, the sinful and the disempowered. So despite the stark economic circumstances, God did provide abundantly:

• We ended up having more volunteers and stewards (volunteers who signed up to serve at Urbana the entire week) than we needed! The folks who signed up later ended up being put on a wait list. This was a huge answer to the Ops team's ongoing prayer for enough staff to serve at Urbana.
• An abundance of creativity and the deep collaboration that took place between the arts teams- theatre & dance, worship, 2100 Productions. All the material and financial resources in the world (which we obviously did not have) could not have bought the creativity, talent, imagination and collaboration that flourished throughout the year. A product of this amalgam of God's artistic provisions? The opening piece: "Words & Pictures"
• Spiritual support and direction. We had intercessors all around the world praying for Urbana, and it did not go unnoticed. All of the speakers had personal intercessors. Heck, I got to have a personal intercessor. There was always someone to go to for prayer. I am grateful for the prayer warriors to helped hold down the spiritual fort before and during the conference.
• Finally, the Global Projects administrator sent me the following numbers soon after Urbana was over:

The GP team prayed to recruit the following # of students at U09:

20 students for Kenya

The result: 63 signed up indicating interest in the Kenya GP

40 for China Global Projects

102 want to follow up about China GPs

100 for Urban Projects

141 are interested in signing up for an Urban Project

50 for the Global Urban Trek

233 students want to follow up about the Global Urban Trek

I've never participated in a GP, but as a LAUP alum I am stoked to see how this coming summer will look like for the various GP/UP teams and the lasting impact it'll have on communities in the States and around the world.

At 2:21 AM on January 1st, I wrote in my journal: It's done. Urbana 09 is over. But His work has just begun. We're writing up reports, scheduling debriefs and getting ready to transition out. I will start saying good-byes to some of the Urbana staff starting this week. But His work with Urbana 09 has just begun. And how exciting that is!

Addendum to the list of provisions:

• Speakers. How can I forget the speakers?! Learning from the abundance of their wisdom and experience and the humility with which they supported one another was a highlight in working for Program. Many people commented on the cohesiveness of this year's program. I think cohesion is key in maximizing the effectiveness of an event/conference, so I consider that a huge compliment. But really, all that we did was invite the speakers. God orchestrated the program and called them, and they faithfully and generously made themselves available.