Passion

This week I am in Ensenada, Mexico teaching on their Mission Adventures program. So far it is going great, Lot’s of taco’s, great friends, 30+ students and God seems to be moving. I love when I can play a part in what God wants to do in the lives of young people.

Tonight I am speaking on the topic of passion. I am very excited about this as I believe that when students live out their passions (those passions that come from God) that lives are changed, both theirs and those around them. Tonight I am focusing on how we can live out our passions for good or for evil. I am playing Bono’s acceptance speech for the NAACP award to show how our passions can change the world for good. He is extremely passionate about the poor and HIV/AIDS. So far he has raised enough to provide Antiretroviral drugs for over 1 million people in Africa.

I am also showing the clip from Walk The Line where Johnny cash is playing his song for the record company and they are not impressed with it. Johnny plays a hymn, the same hymn that everyone is playing. The producer asks him “if you were to sing one last song before you died what song would that be?” Then Johnny proceeds to play Folsom Prison and you can see the passion flowing out of him. Passion for music, lyrics and life.

Finally I am showing a clip that I found today that was aired because of the recent trial of Dutch from the Infamous Khmer Rough. Dutch was in charge of S-21 prison from 1975-1979 where over 10,000 people were tortured and murdered for crimes that they did not commit. The trial has been in the making for over 10 years and is now finally starting. The clip is from one of the half dozen survivors of S-21. You can see the story and the clip here. This clip is intend to show what we can accomplish if our passions are for evil and not for good.

If you are reading this before 8:00 West Coast time please keep my in your prayers. I would encourage all of us to look at our passions, talents, gifts and pray and ask God how we can best operate in them. Thanks and I’ll have a taco for you tonight, unless you are a vegetarian, then I will not.