Budapest - yup, I've just been to Hungary!

Home! Just stepped in the door and the first thing I did was to turn on the computer... *sigh* What does that mean? *smile*

I'm happy... -happy I went on this trip. Okay, from the top: I've been on a Jesus Revolution 12-day summer camp in Budapest, Hungary, with 30 other people from my youth group here in Dk. There were around 50 other participants (I think!) and I bought home 10 new t-shirts..

The camp was planned so that the first 5 days were training days with different work(/sweat)shops and I joined the one called 'band'. So we worked on three songs, 4 hours a day. One of these was one that I'd written which was cool, I reckon! =P The last seven days were so-called 'outreach days'. We took the stuff we'd learnt in the workshops and performed them on the street 4 times per day to tell people that God is a reality that needs to be dealt with.

How was it?

When I look back at my childhood, I remember that there were two occasions where I felt disrespected and stepped on by my older brother. I can't remember what it was about the first time, but the second time it was about a toothbrush (go figure..) In any case, he - by force - took something that belonged to me after I had refused to lend it to him. I never ever before or after remember having been so angry, I'm talking "hysteric-weeping-and-uncontrollable-shaking"-rage... Point is that when I was still shaking mad, I appealed to a higher authority - my dad - to seek justice. I mean, I was right! It was my possession (sp?) and even though I had a moral obligation to lend it to him, it was my judicial right to deny him access to it.
So I was shaking and crying, doing my best explaining of the awful atrocity commited against my youthful soul to my dad and here's the punch line:
He looks at me in that serious "*sigh*-son let me explain"-way and says: "Ivan, you have to be broken." I was dizzily confused for ten seconds cos, I mean, clearly my brother was wronging me so what kind of reply was that?! But the same brother (I only have one, but it just sounds cool: "...the same brother...") said something about doing the dishes when it wasn't his turn that applies beautifully: "Jesus died on a cross - I can do the dishes."

Yes, it's back to the rights, people! Jesus' rights were stepped on till he died so who am I to complain?

But the point of me saying this is that my trip to Budapest was very much about me saying: "Ivan, you will lay down your right to freedom to plan your own day and to do your own thing. You will choose to love the leader who's being waaaay to tight-arsed about this whole eleven o'clock bedtime thing! You will love him and think well of him."

But it was good. Oh my goodness, crazy blessing to learn to submit and lay down your own leadership urges [read: rebellion] for a while. Learning to love people you wouldn't normally love. [smile] I'm happy and proud that I managed to do it.

God's been crazy on this trip too... can't believe how ppl manage to live without a belief in His love because my life is just so much because of that very knowledge. -I am loved. I am perfectly accepted. It is done! It's hope and joy, peace and confidence. It's all that you need!