On September 2, 2008, my friend Lindee and I traveled from Eagle River, Alaska to San Jose, California for a Hillsong United concert there. It was a whirlwind experience and an unforgettable 24 hours. Below is a video and a blog post that hopefully show and tell just how amazing of a trip it was.

Originally written on September 4, 2008, 11:00 a.m.

So now that it’s the day after and I’ve had a little bit of time to fully process what all went on in the whirlwind of excitement that took place on September 2, 2008, I feel that I am adequately prepared to share the experience. The whole day can be pretty much summed up in one word, blessed. In fact, this whole trip can be summed up by the same word. God’s hand in guiding us and making it possible for us to be here has been so apparent and clear. From the offer of plane tickets, to the housing, to the flight loads, to the VIP status for the concert.

The morning started off early, 3:30 a.m. for those of you keeping track at home, with getting up, showering, picking Lindee up at 4:20 a.m. and jetting off to the airport for our 6:30 a.m. flight. We got checked in and already had seat assignments even though we were on standby. So we didn’t have to sit and wonder if we were going to get on the flight, and we talked to the gate agent and she was able to get us two seats next to each other. The flight from Anchorage to Seattle was quite pleasant, everything from the airplane safety to meeting our new friend, Betty, from Texas and who sings in the over 60 choir at her church. Our flight made it to Seattle about 30 minutes early, (can you say “miracle?!”).

In Seattle we ate our only food of the day, minus the breakfast cookie back home, at Ivar’s in the grande sized food court that is the Seattle-Tacoma airport and headed off to our gate where we were able to, again, get seats next to each other. The flight from Seattle to San Jose was a short one hour and thirty-six minutes of nap time and games, Lindee slaughtered me at dots. Our flight again arrived a few minutes early.

We arrived in San Jose just before 2:00 p.m., hit the potty, and jetted to the curb and called Greg, our host, to let him know that we were there. He picked us up right away in a nice silver Audi and gave us a tour of San Jose. After our tour we proceeded to Jubilee Christian Center, the site of the concert, and got a tour of their campus. That’s right, I said campus.

When we got there around 3:00 there were already several people in line to get into the concert and the doors didn’t open for another three hours. Fortunately for us we didn’t have to bother with the line because we were VIP’s thanks to Pastor Charlton who totally hooked us up. We got our wristbands to get in and then went over to the Urgency building where their youth group meets. Their facility is amazing, flat screen TVs, game systems, computer lab, pool tables, basketball courts, and other amazing stuff.

Greg then took us to the San Jose version of Jitters, Peet’s Coffee and we spent some time just hanging out and talking. On our way to Peet’s we saw the van that had the United guys in it as they were making their way to the church for sound check.

We got back from Peet’s and decided to head inside the church for the concert. The line out front was ginormous, but since we were on the VIP list we got in the back before the doors were even open. We checked out the merchandise tables and scouted out the best spot for the concert. We weren’t actually allowed in the sanctuary yet because sound check was still going on.

The doors opened and we headed to where we were told the best seats would be for the sound. We sat right next to the sound booth in the front row of the balcony. Great seats. We were able to see everything great and we were where the sound was best in the building.

The concert itself was incredible. 3,500 people all gathered together, singing as one, giving it everything they have, holding nothing back, and worshiping God with everything. It was three hours of all out worship with a short video and talk about Compassion. It was an amazing night of worship and encountering God. There was more than one instance where I just kinda stepped back and was just in awe of what was going on. To be joined in song with people who are joined together through Jesus Christ and to worship him with all we can, singing at the top of our lungs and jumping and dancing until we’re sweaty and out of breath.

While I was a picture taking machine for most of the day there, I did not take any pictures of the actual concert. There were specific instructions to everyone that photography was not allowed. I was actually relieved about this because this meant that I got to focus on the night and encountering God rather than taking pictures. However there were professional photographers there and the photos will be uploaded to the Urgency website in the next month or two.

After the concert Greg had to help take the lights down, and that took several hours to complete so Lindee and I got to hang out in the sanctuary and chill/relax/nap. We left the church around 2:30 a.m. or somewhere close to that on the way to a late night snack and some much needed sleep. We stopped at a Burger King (which totally violated my “No eating at places you have at home while traveling” policy, but when it’s 3:00 a.m. and you’ve been up for almost 24 hours and haven’t had anything to eat since 11:30 a.m. the day before, you don’t care about that policy) and got something to eat before bed.

We got to Greg’s house around 3:30. Lindee went to bed almost immediately while Greg and I stayed up a little bit just talking and whatnot while I blogged and did some Facebook stuff. I got to bed shortly after 4:30.

I woke up this morning around 9:30, showered and did some more blog updates via the wifi I stole from a nearby house. We left the house at about 11:30, got some breakfast and then headed to the airport to catch our flight out at 1:00. Nothing exciting happened on the flights home. We made it to Anchorage on time, and safely, and immediately stopped at Chili’s to grab some much needed dinner.

Overall this trip was incredible. God really had his hand on this trip from the start and his hand was evident every step along the way. Everything from the opportunity to go, the flight loads, the accommodations, and just being there and worshiping God was an enormous blessing.

So thank you to everyone who made this trip what it was. I especially want to thank Charlton and Greg again. They didn’t have to do anything for us, but they chose to. They chose to take us in and take care of us. They chose to pay for our meals and to make us VIP’s for the concert. Thank you guys for really making this trip amazing for Lindee and I. We are very grateful and hope we can get a chance to show the same hospitality you showed us if you ever want to come to Alaska!

This was the best concert I’ve ever been to, and God blessed this trip so much. It’s amazing.

He is amazing

Dustin

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

That quote is two things. First, it is the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Second, it was one of the most famous songs of all time from the show School House Rock; and in my communications class today, during my groups presentation about communicating through music, I mentioned that I still remembered, word-for-word, the preamble song done by School House Rock even though I hadn’t heard it in over ten years. At that point Shavon, the greatest communications professor in the world, urged me to sing it so the class could hear it. I took a deep breath and then let loose singing the preamble; I did a pretty good job too. Everyone seemed impressed by it and I’m pretty sure that secured an A for me on the project.

This ordeal got me wondering, what song(s) from your childhood can you still sing word for word with no hesitation and what’s the story behind memorizing it?

Mine is the Preamble as done on School House Rock.

What’s yours?

Dustin

Okay, I spend a good chunk of yesterday waist deep in html code trying to get this thing ready to roll and I think I’m there. There’s going to be a couple minor things I plan to add shortly, but for the most part I’m ready to go. So here it is! This is the new site. What do you think? Likes? Dislikes? Comments? Concerns?

Share them!

Dustin

If anyone is reading this blog, it is because you’re reading it through a feed instead of coming to the site itself. The actual site, if you go check it out, is actually quite boring as there is just a page that says I’m not ready yet. I have a few things I want to add to it before I really “go live” with it. As a reward for making a little more effort into following this blog through some sort of feed, you’ll get some inside information others will have to wait to find out.

1. This is going to be the indefinite home for my blog, (unless I somehow screw something up or get bored and want a new domain.) And hopefully I won’t accidentally erase all of the content on this site like I did at shaggyworshiper.

2. ShaggyWorshiper.com is going to be centered more around the topic of worship and leadership. I’ve been talking to Joel and he has some topic ideas and what I’d really like to do is have 3 or 4 people all contributing to that blog to give it a more rounded feel and that way readers will get a taste of some other amazing Christians I know and their thoughts about the amazing topic of worship. I have a couple people in mind who I’d like to have contribute, but I can’t name drop yet because… well because I haven’t talked to them about it yet.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, now you have another blog that you need to read and follow. shaggyworship.com, and now dustinpetersen.com

Let’s make this blog absolutely scrumtrelescent

Dustin

Yesterday I got my first letter from Epesu, my Compassion child. It came on a special “first letter” stationary that has some information on him and his life that I would like to share with you.

First
Notice the drawings in the picture. A flamingo, a man and woman, a basketball, another bird, a car, a hut, and the purple building I think is a church. Also, the giraffes on the side of the page are colored in. Adorable, right?

Second
His parents are both 24 years old, he will be four in just over a month, and he has a brother who is 18 months. That’s just a very humbling fact that jumps out at me. I am completely honored to be a part of their lives in helping Epesu as his sponsor.

Third
Epesu needs healing prayer for a complication in his left leg. I don’t know any more than that, but I’m praying for him and I ask that you would pray for him too.

Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Dustin

More than one billion people around the world live in poverty making less than one dollar a day. Eight hundred-million people go to bed hungry every night. Every three and a half seconds a person, often a child, dies as a result of extreme poverty and hunger. These facts, especially the last one, are humbling and heartbreaking to me as the reasons for their suffering and death is completely preventable.

I’ve always known that there are poor people out there who need help, but I’ve never done anything about it. I’ve sat back in my comfortable and trendy lifestyle and thought that someone else can do something to help and take care of these people. But as of late I’ve been exposed more to what poverty really looks like. It has come from reading about trips to Uganda to take a first hand look at life in the area; from my own sponsorship of a three year old boy in Uganda and reading about his life there; from the upcoming homeless feed the youth groups at my church are putting on; and from talking to Joel and seeing some of his pictures from Sudan:

What’s my excuse for not doing anything? I don’t have one. I’ve sat by comfortably my whole life while knowing that there is unnecessary suffering in the world. I’ve had a very legalistic approach to it to make it so I don’t feel guilty for my lack of action. I read a quote today from Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love that says it all:

Lukewarm people do whatever is necessary to keep themselves from feeling guilty. They want to do the bare minimum to be “good enough” without it requiring much of them… They ask, “How much do I have to give?” instead of, “How much can I give?”.

That’s me right there, asking, “How much do I have to give?” When God wants me to ask “How much can I give?”. So what I want to do now is issue a challenge to you, and I am going to take this challenge as well. In prayer today, go to God and ask, “How much can I give of myself to help these people?”

Go ahead. Ask.

Dustin