Carnal vs. Spiritual - EN

The thing that always strikes me at these big church gatherings is the simultaneous and warring presence of the carnal nature and the spiritual nature. I mean, hear I am, at the General Conference of the United Pentecostal Church--a most noble collection of the servants of God, where our collective praise and prayer ushers in such a powerful move of the Holy Spirit. Yet, even whilst we pray, we scan the arena for familiar faces, evaluate the outfit of the sister walking by, take note of the more powerful among us, and think about our own physical comforts (or discomforts). (Maybe I will muse more about this later)

Tonight we arrived late to the evening service, as we had spent more time on the road than anticipated. Luckily, some friends had saved us seats though we had to parade almost to the smack dab front to get to them. Bro. Haney had already started preaching and as he talked about the call of God on our lives, I felt that sweet anointing work in my heart. As he ended, the praise worshipers sang that old hymn, "I surrenderAll" and then, "Take me back, take me back, oh Lord". As a just returned AIMer, I got to sit in the Missionary section among the great people of God. If anybody had surrendered all, it was these folks. But all around me, they were praying with fervor. I guess they have learned the secret that surrendering is a continual process, not a one time thing.

By the way, I went to http://www.hotwire.com and got a great room with sitting area at Amerisuites for 50 bucks a night. I mean the room has strong paint fumes and not that great lighting, but it's a pretty nice room for $50.00.

Brief fashion update: I haven't seen anything bizarre yet. One guy was wearing a pink sweater vest under his suit jacket-I guess it looked okay. A lot of girls are still braving the really high heels despite the huge amount of walking you have to do. (Okay, I admit to it, but only tonight....they were just that perfect pair. I hid my ballet flats in my commodious purse and slipped them on for the long walk back to the car at the end of the festivities.)

Tomorrow, I plan to do the booths. I'll keep you posted.



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