When I was 15 years old, I attended a youth camp.
It was at a gathering of young people…an event that caused adolescence to collide with E numbers, meaning the result was always interesting.
The room had about 150 teenagers in, the aroma of sweat lingered and some staff we
re on the verge of fainting.
It was a Christian youth camp and so some were worshiping whilst others were flirting. That’s how it goes…
I hadn’t showered in a week, I was wearing the same socks, no deodrant and I probably handn’t cleaned my teeth, washed my face or even my hands.
But something happened to me that evening that I’ll never forget.
As the evening came to a close, the band led the final few songs of worship and for reasons I couldn’t have explained, I burst into tears.
But – This was not the cry that a 15 year old boy should let out. This was a the cry of a toddler in a toy store with a present he couldn’t take home!
You know the kind of cry i’m talking about? Where every bit of fluid in your body decides to exit through your face.
Tears running down my cheeks, snot coming out of my nose, mouth, ears and all. It wasn’t pretty.
My mate Graham put his arm around me – I wiped some snot on my sleeve, then on my other sleeve…..then his sleeve….
I couldn’t have explained why I cried that day. It wasn’t tears of pain or anything like that, but I look back and think that at 15 years of age, I was simply overwhelmed by a tangible presence of God in that moment.
The God of all things, who made heaven and earth, chose to meet with me that day.
God met me in my un showered, unclean state and he was simply present with me.
Whoever you are. God wants to meet with you. Why don’t you ask him?
Life on Overflow 