Bumps in the Road.

It happens every summer, or maybe I should say that it happens almost every summer. We get a "Summer song!" Now, I know we are still in the strong holds of winter, but we have found our summer song! It's new but I'm sure if you love Despicable Me as much as I do, you have heard this song! 

Click Here!

It's Happy by Pharrell Williams and it's also the song from Despicable Me 2. Hearing this song makes me flat out happy! Preacher man and I downloaded it last night, and danced ourselves silly! You can not listen to this song and not be changed!

We should have things like this song in our lives to help us get over the bumps in the road. I don't want things in my life that halfway work, or show up for part time involvement. If I need help, I want help. No messing around! 

Right now, I believe I'll be listening to a lot of this song! Where we are right now is where the rubber hits the road, and it's hard. In all honesty, I don't think any of this journey is going to be a cake walk. Seems like the more you trust God, the more you need to trust God. Dah! 

Discernment is work, and it's work that requires all of you, and it wears you out. I feel like everyday, we start over again from scratch. I look at the insurmountable barriers that lay between us and a church plant… and I gasp. It's enough to make you take that job just so some money is coming in, even though you know that's not what is required. 

We are reopening A Workman Services. She has laid dormant for 7 years, while we were learning combat tactics. This is by no means the way we planned any of this ministry to happen…But God! We are grateful for His plan for our life. 

We are also in the process of discerning what our ministry is going to look like. It's crazy, really it is. How many people do you know that do this kinda stuff? We talk about listening to God and going where He leads, even if it's uncomfortable. So here we are.

So here's the deal: You gotta have things in your life that help get you over the bumps in the road. God has given us the ability to be moved by music. When you need some help over the bump that's appeared in the road, find that song, that summer song, and dance your feet off friend! There is a plan, you just aren't in charge!     

VBS

Woke up this morning and my first thoughts were, What in the Sam Hill was I thinking!? I am so tired! Oh yeah, VBS. Which I believe should be changed to AWM: Adults Without Minds! VBS gives people like me a chance to act like we're 8 again and get away with it! Then, in the morning I feel like I'm much older than 8!

Steffanie (Ellie), John Michael (Jethro) and myself (Maybell) were the music part of the program. They were the music, I was the silly, which was perfect! See little miss sassy pants in the pink down front? Yeah, we got her number! Thinks she's a gymnasts and all. If my Niece were there she would have been put in her place.

So this was the first night, Preacher man and I get tonight off cuz the family is coming in town for a baseball game. Wednesday will be the program and we are done with this year! Thank you Sweet Jesus!

VBS is always a good indicator of how your church is doing with growth. Young kids, young families = growth. It's also a good time for members to come out, volunteer and give back. It can open your eyes to strengths and weakness. I mean let's face it, when you have to keep kids entertained for 2 1/2 hours, the cream rises to the top. Jethro and Ellie were the cream! It was a pure honor to stand up there beside them and shake my tail feathers!   

Get Them In!!

I have this thought about, well church. Have you noticed that we are trying every little thing that might bring in people? Especially the collage aged folks? When I think back on that age, I had no desire to be in church. I believe the general plan, now that I look back from this side was, I was raised in church, I would run away from church, I would come back to the only thing that really filled the void I have in me! If you think about it, most collages have foundations (The Wesley Foundation) that are church based for that age group, cuz it is so hard to get them into church.


Here's my question's and my thought on this "issue". Do you really think it's the new and explosiveness that the 20-somethings are looking for? Do you think they want to be singled out and stuck in a group that consists of more of themselves? Do you think their needs and hungers are any different than your?


On thinking about this, I see that they get all the new and shiny stuff out in the world. We have the 20-something males that are moving home with their parents and staying up all night playing those war and space conquering games, possibly holding down a job, maybe going to school, and basically trying to find themselves. They don't fit into the high school classes, although we treat them like they are mature high school people, whatever that is. We play "their kind of music" in a service, yet none of them are in that service. We offer Sunday school classes that "prepare" them for the real world and wonder why they don't show up! The 20-something females seem to be fairing better or longer in collage, act like they have a plan, yet end up back home in their parents house to find themselves and get their feet under them.

I, at times, feel like I have a very old soul. The old and Holy of the church really opens my heart, that maybe part of my love for the Catholic church. However, if you know me you know I have never acted my age. In fact, I think parts of me are still about 20-something. (This would not be the physical parts!) I think young. So maybe what was once old is becoming new again.


It might be just like David Crowder said; “And the younger generation is finding that this present moment is not sufficient enough. That we need something that’s bigger than just ‘the present.’ And we need words that say something that’s bigger than the present. But we cant’ look into the future, so we look backwards and pull from what has already been said. In doing so we also realize that we’re not alone in this present moment, but in fact our history is with us.”


What once was old, is new again. Think about that. Maybe the answer is to have a blended service instead of a traditional and contemporary? Maybe we should try to make it simpler instead of so dang controlled and timed! Maybe we should let the Holy Spirit be the Holy Spirit and run the show! Who is going to die if we run late because people wanted prayer? Is it you? Then get your butt out of there and go get in line for lunch before someone else get's in front of you! Me, I'm sticking around for the prayer and the moving of the Holy Spirit! 


Come Lord Jesus Come! 

A New Song

One of the things I have been doing for awhile now is reading a Psalm everyday. Just one. Some are short, some long, but I read one a day. It's a great way to start praying scripture and I love coming across the ones that have been made into music that I hear on the radio. That's what the Psalms are, songs. They are also the stories of our lives.


Psalm 40 will forever be my favorite! It is probably the one that got me started on Psalm's in the first place. I was going through a dark time in my life about 10 years ago and someone read it to me and I could not believe that God could be speaking to me in such plain words!

I waited patiently for the Lord;

he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the desolate 

pit,

out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

and put their trust in the Lord.

I love it!! The coolest part is that every time I read it, something different is going on in my life that causes me to go "Yeah God!!!" What this says to me today is, sing a new song! Even if the words are from a long time ago, everyday, every time I read them, it's new song time! That's what makes the Bible a living breathing book! It changes with me, I change because of it!

When I wait, God shows up. He picks me up and dusts me off and put my feet where He wants them. He say's "sing this..." be a witness. It blows my mind that He does this.

I've got some folks reading Psalms daily and being open to what grabs their attention. Then to sit with it to see what God might be saying to them. He never says the same thing to anybody, it's always new and different. I think it's what we should be doing when we read the Psalms in church too...really listen to what's being said, to us, just as if it were coming from God today. So many times we run right over them and don't spend time with them, or we don't even read them. 


Dr Fred says this about the Psalms and music. I believe it needs repeating!


The task of the church musician is an artistic endeavor, but it is more. It is the act of praying and inviting prayer - an invitation to an encounter with God.


As such, the task of a church musician is evangelical, catechetical, and spiritual. Performance is not enough. Singing a new song should alert us to the presence of God. If we are blind to its invitation, we need to hear its purposes declared. If we are ignorant of its logic, we need to be taught. And none of that can be done by a musician who is not alert to the movement of God in his or her own life.


Have you ever been in a service where the Holy Spirit was running the show? Where people were laid out on their faces and the music just kept on, in fact it got deeper as the spirit got deeper? Where it wasn't about the performance, it was about creating an environment where people were free to pray in anyway they wanted, for as long as they wanted. This happens a lot at IHOP (International House Of Prayer) in Kansas City and it's awesome. But God can do it in our churches today if we have the right people doing the "Musician" job. To have a musician invite you into prayer into an encounter with God is truly to sing a new song!