I really should have posted about this a long time ago...but life moves fast and today I have some extra time to think so I shall use it to reflect on Urbana a little bit.
I attended Urbana 2009, which was the first time that I went. Back then everything was brand new to me. I was just starting to think about the future and what I wanted to do. I had already made the decision to attend Bible College but I only had a couple of ideas for the future after that. Urbana opened my eyes to the world in a lot of ways. God is working in all of the nations of the world. The biggest lesson that I learned that year was to be open to anything because there is a lot out there. This is only a tiny nutshell of my first Urbana experience.
The second one, however, is more clear in my mind as it was only several months ago.
I attended Urbana 2009, which was the first time that I went. Back then everything was brand new to me. I was just starting to think about the future and what I wanted to do. I had already made the decision to attend Bible College but I only had a couple of ideas for the future after that. Urbana opened my eyes to the world in a lot of ways. God is working in all of the nations of the world. The biggest lesson that I learned that year was to be open to anything because there is a lot out there. This is only a tiny nutshell of my first Urbana experience.
The second one, however, is more clear in my mind as it was only several months ago.
It is an incredible feeling being in a room with about 20,000 other believers, worshiping God together. There is just so much spiritual energy, it's overwhelming in an amazing way. We sang together, studied the Word together, were challenged together, and had great fellowship together.
The group from my church that went together contained 11 of us. We talked through a lot of what we had been learning together and spent a lot of time getting to know each other as we sought to encourage one another through the week.
I have to say that I do not recommend being sick when you go to Urbana. It is a week that is jam-packed full of constant teaching and reflecting on what you learned. Unfortunately I got hit with the worst cold that I have ever had in my life. I was stuffed right up. My nose was constantly running, one of my ears was plugged, and I had a horrible sinus headache to top it all off. I thought that I was getting better before I left on the trip but the cold would stick around for a couple of weeks after Urbana.
Despite my sickness I fought to learn as much as I could while I had the chance. My days were filled with great seminars and amazing opening and closing sessions. This year I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in nursing so I went with that in mind. I discovered that nurses are needed everywhere around the world which overwhelmed me with many windows of opportunity. Apart from nursing...there really is something for everyone. Missions opportunities are without limit.
Apart from the many notes taken, I came home with a number of books from the conference. Twelve to be exact. I have only read a few of them so far but I have to admit that I am a sucker for good deals on Christian books. Urbana is a goldmine for that. :)
I think I will cover one highlight of the trip. David Platt, a pastor of a megachurch in the states, gave an amazing talk which can be listened to here. And apart from two ladies in my row who kept on yelling "Preach it!" and mumbling about how amazing David Platt is, the whole room was silent as he spoke. I have since listened to that video twice and continue to be convicted by the fact that I struggle to surrender everything to Jesus. I need constant reminders of His sacrifice to put me in my place. This life was given to me, and it is a privilege that shouldn't be wasted for my own selfishness. By the grace of God I will learn to surrender everything.
That's a slightly bigger nutshell of my Urbana 2012 experience and I hope to maybe attend Urbana 2015 if the opportunity is given. :)
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