The first talk

About 1.5 weeks ago - I gave my first talk at ACF Mini-Camp on the topic of 'Communal Worship'. I'd given a lot of public talks before but mostly on engineering subjects and never before a 'sermon' sort of lecture. Was I nervous? Of course!
I also think I was the target of many a spiritual attack going into it. My talk was supposed to be given the first evening but the students were running late and didn't all arrive until around 10pm (originally the talk was supposed to start around 8pm). So we ended up pushing the evening program back one day. That night my heat wasn't working in my cabin and my blankets etc... got locked in the large meeting room (so I couldn't get to them). So I ended up grabbing a series of cat naps in the car between 12am and 5:30am - finally deciding that I should just give up on sleeping all together. So of course I started getting a cold at that point due to exhaustion (the prev. day was a long one), temperature changes, and all the whispers of doubt and inadaquacy that were looming in my mind.
Praise God though that the talk seemed to go fairly well, despite my loopy-headed-ness. I'd structured most of the talk around me telling stories to make points and I do love telling stories.
The best part of the talk was probably the baby demonstration (Thanks Justin & Hollie!). I borrowed a little baby doll from my buddies, Justin & Hollie Powell, to use as an illustration of our relationship with God. I had the students instruct me on holding the doll as if I was holding a real baby. As you cradle the head and make sure the baby is looking / thinking / focused on you - so does God cradle our lives and direct our attention towards him and it is in that moment (when our eyes are on him) that we are at peace in our lives, even if our lives are not at that moment peaceful. After done with the illustration I had to put the baby back in the shoebox I had kept it in because well... baby dolls freak me out man. I can't stand the beady little eyes and the life-like-ness of the whole thing *ick.... *shiver.
Anyway - it was a blessing to see the students actually trying to apply much of the practical part of my talk throughout the rest of the retreat & onward into Catalyst (they were back to back ---> exhausting for staff!). Praise God for communicating the message despite my tiredness & fear of baby dolls. =)