the right, the wrong, and the non

WARNING: long and potentially controversial post. also, religious content.

DISCLAIMER: everything in this post is OPINION. my opinion. i am not saying that what i say is correct. nor am i trying to influence anyone else into my way of thinking. i am merely voicing my views on this event.

that said, i went to the planet shakers rally last night. man, i was pumped and i was excited. having gone two years ago, i knew this year would be better than the last cause, come on, you don't expect them to get worse, right?

got in there [i shan't elaborate on things like parking and trying to find seats, cause that's not what i'm trying to say] and waited for the thing to start. the atmosphere was good - people all around were excited and happy. then it started and there was cheering and clapping. we started to sing a new song and even though i didn't know it, i sang along and clapped anyway.

then we sang jump around, one of the most awesome songs to get excited about - EVER. even before i went into the rally, i knew that this song would be the one to get the crowd pumped. so i sang along and jumped for a bit, then i stopped. cause for some reason, i wasn't as excited about it as i thought i would be. after that, the songs were all good, but something wasn't right. i mean, everyone was excited and clapping and singing and cheering, but there was something that felt slightly off.

i didn't know what it was until someone told me halfway through the rally. the guy on stage was asking us to jump if we loved God and some people didn't so he said some people weren't ready. my mate told me we weren't jumping not because we weren't ready, it's because we didn't wanna be like all those people pretending to be Jesus. [something along those lines]. come on, the guy didn't exactly give us a choice.

coming into planet shakers, you're expected to be pumped about being able to express yourself in front of God. last night was more about making loud noise than praising God. people were cheering for no reason at all. the whole thing became totally irrelevant. i mean, makes you wonder exactly WHY these people were there. not to glorify God, but to have some fun. youth rally morphed into rock concert.

i'm not saying this without grounds. the thing that really made me realize that these people were just out for a night of fun was when mike guglielmucci stood up to preach. he said "in 1788" WOOOAAAAAAAAAH "under a gum tree" WOOOOOHOOOOO. i mean, what's the point of whooping after the guy talks about a gum tree. THERE'S NO RELEVANCE WHATSOEVER. i'm not saying it's wrong to cheer, but do it for the right reasons, at the right time. to really express your love for God and your love for being in His presence. cause in the end, anything else is just noise pollution.

i went to this rally two years ago, when i had first moved to australia. let me tell you, that was a truly AWESOME experience. having come from a town where church service was limited to about 50 people each week, this event was something that i found AMAZING. amazing that people gathered in thousands to praise God. i loved it, and everything was so real. standouts were henry seely leading worship, jurgen matthesius speaking about offering [now there was a true motivator] and Reggie dabbs preaching.

last night wasn't a total disappointment though. the point where i felt it was really all about God was when we sang evermore. nobody was making unnecessary noise, and it was good cause everyone was really singing from their hearts and lifting their hands to God. in stark contrast to the slightly artificial cheers and whoops of the crowd, this song made me question my own reasons. i'm not gonna pretend that i was totally there for God; part of it was the excitement and the awesome music but while i was singing that song, i prayed really really hard that i was doing this for the right reason: to glorify God.
it's all about Jesus

we discussed this in the car during the long trip back home. in rick's words, this event has been an eye-opener. we weren't greatly moved by the presence of God [except mebbe during evermore] but we've definitely received something different. again, i am not a saint and i will never profess to being one, but i am trying to be more like Jesus. i will never be like Him - won't come close, and i know that. but i also know i love him and i want to live my life for Him. and i'm not saying this just to make me feel good either. truth is, i haven't felt a really close connection with God in a while.
it's all about You, it's all about You Jesus

i'm turned off the song jump around at the moment. nonono, it's still a really great song with really good music, but seeing the display of people jumping to it without thought has disappointed me. i'm gonna say something that i know i will regret one day, but at the end of the night, my feelings for the rally were slightly disgusted. great night out if it was for any other reason. rargh.
i'm sorry Lord for the things i've made it

i will not jump just cause everyone else is doing it and i will think before i make loud noise. i also have to learn not to judge people so soon. cause in the end, I may be the one in the wrong.
i'll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required. you search much deeper within, through the way things appear