Best Day of My Life!

Ok, that may be a little bit of an overstatement, but I did have an unforgetable experience! After work, yesterday, I drove to the Annapolis Naval Academy to listen to Dr. Ravi Zacharias speak. It was amazing! I have read several of his books and probably listened to most of his sermons/talks, but this was the first time I was able to actually go and see him in person.

The topic assigned to him was leadership, which seemed very fitting considering his audience. He approached it from a contrasting view of two kings of Israel (Manasseh and Josiah). He made several points concerning each and then many sub-points, but I am just going to list my favorites...

• One life can have an impact on millions. ("one need to only look at Hitler, Stalin, or a man, who now is hiding in the caves of Pakistan or Afghanistan...").
• External laws only work when there is an internal moral framework. (God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and then taught them spiritually in the wilderness before He gave them the 10 commandments).
• You can't live without any moral framework. When you throw out God's laws, an abberant law will tak its place and will rule in your life.
• A culture can be judged by three things... the last one he listed was "by the way it treats its children."

After the lecture, there was a half hour of Q&A. I think that is what I was most impressed with! There was one young man that I was watching on and off throughout the lecture because he seemed to disagree with most of Dr. Zacharias was saying and I expected him to jump up to challenge Dr. Zacharias as soon as he was given the chance (I was not disappointed =]). He had writen out his question very carefully and read it off. Ravi Zacharias' response could not have been more perfect. First, He told the young man, "that is a brilliant question" (that was the only time he said that, by the way) and quickly followed it with his answer: "No." Of course, he went on to explain his answer, but his short "no" showed that although the question was not an easy one, it was something he had thought about and had come to a decision on. That is just how he is. There is nothing that he leaves to "maybe." Dr. Zacharias gets to the heart of each issue and breaks down the componant parts to get to the moral aspect, and then the answer is quite simple. Amazing!

It was a night I shall never forget!