We had a birth day party last night. 15 Thai kids gave their lives to Christ and said that they want to be born again. To be born into a new life in Christ like in John 3:3. So we celebrated, we prayed, we worshiped, and we praised. I want to tell the story that led to this event.
It was around 7:45pm when the winds started blowing and whistling. Like our normal routine for Trail to Life Camp, we were outside under the pavilion having our night session, singing and dancing. All of a sudden, chairs were being knocked down, signs were blowing away, and it seemed like the really little ones were almost being swept off their feet. Then after a few flickers of light, we were in a black out.
By this time, the wind was so powerful that the rain was hitting us hard even underneath this big pavilion. So we naturally grabbed the nearest human for comfort and all 70 of us huddled in a circle in the corner. The kids were scared, wet, and shaking. The adults were trying to figure out what to do. Outside the pavilion the thunderstorm was a mighty force. It wasn’t quite safe to let the kids leave to run to their cabins. So we just stayed there huddled, trying to consul the kids.
After a couple minutes, Ethan told (yelled through the wind) the story of Elijah from 1 Kings 17. Elijah prayed for no rain and there was no rain. So he told us that we should do the same.
My prayer: “Jesus, I believe in your power. Your power to calm storms. Your power to defeat death. Lord, these kids need to know your power. So calm this storm because these kids need you. They need their Savior. Jesus, stop the rain because I want them to know you, and I think they want to know you too.”
In the midst of the storm, one of the girls started playing the guitar and all of the kids started singing. They sang their praises to our Father, and I could start to see it in their eyes that they believed in Jesus. They believed that He died for them. They believed that He rose three days later and they believed that His power is so much stronger than the wind. After about three worship songs, the wind completely ceased. And the rain completely stopped. It was silent.
After everything settled down, those kids accepted Christ into their hearts because He is real. He is real in their lives and in the creation around them. They couldn’t deny the power of Jesus. They knew that if the storms bow down to Him then so could they. So we had a birth day party celebrating their new life.
It was an absolute honor to be in the presence of the Lord last night. To physically see the power of Jesus was indescribable. It is 100% the truth when they say that when you have an encounter with Jesus, your life will never be the same.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
