full text of Zulu Time Summit session 1 opener video

Hi friends,

It's a longer-than-usual post... but i hope it's rewarding :-)

You can also find this at willow creek association blog:  www.wcablog.com

zulu time

06:00 hours: 

Zulu time

the sun emerges predictably red on the horizon

start the clock on the day

and we humans

emerge from our stasis,

our sleep

and we take up the responsibility

of free will

mostly unaware that we are

inexorably

connected

one to another

in invisible pathways

jetstreams

shipping lanes

prevailing winds

genetic strains

climate patterns

tidal pulls

the mysterious inroads of prayer

connected:

when one is lost, another grieves

when one is hurt, another bleeds

06:01

this day is in our hands...

what will we do with it?

  

a visionary speaker

sparks an innovator

a design takes shape

wheels set in motion

giving birth to a movement

spreading like a flame

through a church

an enterprise

a city

sparking new ideas 

new adrenaline

walls fall and doors swing open

giving life and hope to

tens

hundreds thousands

moving mountains

feel it?—

potential

it’s everywhere

 a quiver in the atmosphere

disturbing the Pacific Rim

fears in Japan

spark prayers in Berlin

connected

a flashing light

an ambulance siren

a freakish cold spell in Lisbon

child and father under blankets

shivering by the bank on

Boulevard St Germaine

Paris

Hanover Street in Baltimore

by the convenience store

look in those eyes

movement in the ocean floor

Singapore

Bucharest

Malawi

United Nations

Children without vaccinations

09:00 hours Zulu time

leaders gather in New York

scribbled notes from a speech

pen and ink on a Moleskine,

three inspired physicians

having made a point to listen

now engage in conversation

posing the question

will these great minds be moved...

to action?

they wish to learn

they book a flight

wings lift off into the night

passport check

security

Jakarta

Rwanda

Congo Kinshasa

sworn enemies

humble themselves

before a 40 inch screen

(as praying souls in Paraguay hold their breath

on their behalf)

 ...unprecedented

they gather to learn

to heal and to hear

hands join in prayer

clearing the air

listening,

open

willing to be moved...

letting go the deepest of the wounds..

reconciling

excising the fear

brothers

for the first time...

in one hundred years

instantaneous paths of prayer

whisper synced from here to there

decisions to leave

decisions to stay

soldiers drop to their knees to pray

13:00 hours

Syria

Libya

taking up arms

alert

alarms

worldwide protests

desperate prayer requests

old regimes fall

new ones rise

sleeping churches come alive

calls to action

cyber campaigns

after the drought

comes at last...

the rain

Sao Paolo

Corcovado

statue of Christ with open hands

voiceless children

white hot sand

Chicago

Krakow

Amsterdam

commerce

drug trade

street lights

gang signs...

follow down every pathway

Palestine

Mumbai

slums of the Dalit

zoom in on Cairo

the Zabaleen

Garbage city

children’s unprotected souls and feet

one woman listens to the Voice

in the silence

and an idea

catches fire...

in the desert wind

the dry season ends....

the healing.. begins

South Asia

a church in a city that must not be named

one step away

from being found out

shut down

incarcerated

but.. for the prayers in

Des Moines...

and Bahrain

always listen..

watch the streets..

read the signs..

between the lines..

baptisms

in hiding

in tubs

in fonts

in pools

in lakes

the cleansing water

the tides

the surf..

tsunami

Tokyo

from the heat of desperation

comes... connection

Japanese youth

take up a collection

for reconstruction

digging out from under the quake

caring for those left in the wake

spending themselves for the sake

of the broken

what it takes...

is one listening ear...

wherever you are..

tuning in...

finger to the wind...

a willingness to be moved

23:59 hours: 

zulu time

the stars glow predictably white in the black night sky

some keen observers connect the dots

and see them as constellations

others of scientific mind

see them carried along with us in a vast gravitational sweep

that moves galaxies

others see each star as an unrelated...

disconnected...

individual point of light..

all on its own...

alone..

in the universe

each awake and looking human being

takes one last look at those brilliant points of light...

and drifts off to sleep

reset the clock for one more day

...what will we do with it?