downtown 48

sunny sunday afternoon.

i’m sitting at an open-air coffee shop in nw portland with kathleen. i’m supposed to be tired but i’m pretty alert in spite of having gotten only three hours of sleep last night. my blackberry italian soda is going down nicely as i try to figure out how to describe the last three days.

today we finished our last 48. not the last one ever, but the last of these first 48s. strange how quickly we get to the back side of things we so long anticipate. the 48 hours of prayer and service was amazing, though it wasn’t the flash of miracles, signs and wonders i always hope for, it was full of miracles, signs and wonders the way god wanted it.

friday morning the whole thing kicked off with prayer at 10am, then some groups went out with food for the streetkids that our city is so full of. after that there were more prayer walks and walking in the park blocks with socks, tooth brushes and paste, doggy treats, bottled water and other ‘dignity’ items like deodorant. there were teams that went out with instruments and worshipped in the park blocks and pioneer square, and more prayer walk teams.

at 10 we gathered together to worship together and share about encounters we’d had throughout the day, and there were many amazing stories of how god opened the door for our teams to pray for people and some crazy conversations that had been had. we did that until midnight, then we prayed and worshipped in shifts until 10 am, when we started the whole service teams thing again, went until 10 and then met for stories and worship. we prayed again through the night and ended the whole ‘event’ with two other downtown churches joining ours for our regular sunday service.

the coolest thing would have to be running into the same people over and over throughout the weekend. it tied in so well with the work we’ve been doing with our ‘can we help’ teams, and it was amazing to see God create more oportunities to reiterate His love to someone. i loved, too, that my church peeps and my dhop peeps were together for the same thing. finally the amazing friends i have in each have met. so cool.

i have lots of cool stories to tell, but my three hours of sleep is getting to me suddenly, so i’ll fill you in through installments.