Rehearsal Follies

I have been rehearsing for a huge July 4th performance at my church. We have spent hours trying to perfect things and tonight was one more stab at getting things right. Tonight, though, everyone was tired, and as a result we ended up with what I call rehearsal follies. There were so many funny things that happened it was a wonder we actually accomplished anything. Here are some of the highlights: one of the girls in the group is consistantly using sign language to say everything everyone is saying while one of the guys tries to mimic her except his signs are totally ridiculous and usually end up with him indicating how ridiculous he thinks this girls is; during one of the big group numbers one of the guys starts acting like a wacked out NSYNC member making huge, overly exaggerated movements as he sways and sings and claps; repititions of numerous lines such as, "The flag was. . . the flag was. . .the flag was. . . What am I supposed to say?"; and guys who were supposed to be interacting with each other but couldn't keep from laughing at each other. Of course there were the blank stares as someone realized that they were supposed to say something but couldn't for the life of them remember what it was or what they were even talking about. My favorite messed up line of the evening came when we were discussing transitions and staging between numbers and we were trying to figure out how to get one of the girls to her position on time. The drummer, trying to help, said, "I know how to get her across town!" and then paused as everyone else broke into laughter. There were slips of the tongue, the bursts of laughter, the missteps, the "technical difficulties" and just general mistakes. As the evening progressed everyone's silly genes came out and by the time rehearsal had ended hardly anyone was being very serious, as can be attested to by the director starting to read one of the readings and being entirely too dramatic and continuing on even when everyone protested she stop. When one of the group noted that it was after 10 p.m. the director said, "Oh, too bad. We were having so much fun!" Of course, that didn't keep everyone from clearing the building in a matter of minutes. I guess no one thought we were having so much fun we shouldn't go home. We did actually accomplish a lot of work tonight, but we also had quite the number of follies, but I'm glad we did.

Sweet Peace

"What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear.
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."
Those are the words to one of my favorite songs. Perhaps I like them so much because they have been so true throughout my life. There has been no better friend than Jesus and truly I have found a solace in Him countless times. He is the reason I am still standing on my own two feet today, still in my right mind (yes, I believe I am even if you don't), able to be successful and strive to be more successful. It is always amazing to me how much of a comfort Jesus is and what He can do when I go to Him in prayer. My life right now is hard, for numerous reasons, but somehow I am at total peace and I have real joy. The only reason for this is Jesus and His precious Holy Spirit. When I fall on my face in prayer and ask Him to help me do what I have not the strength to do, He always comes through for me. I was reminded of a Scripture last night that says, "I can do all things through Christ Who is my strength." When I go to God in prayer and cry out to Him for help there is nothing I cannot do with His help. I can face the most difficult situation, I can win the the most dreadful struggle, I can deal with the most awful hurt and pain, I can always do what's right when He is my strength. I can't do it on my own, but I can lean back into the arms of Jesus and rest in Him knowing there is no greater friend than He and He will take care of me. It is truly wonderful to have the peace that passes all understanding guarding your heart and your mind, giving you the strength to do what God has asked of you and renewing your faith, hope, and joy while you are doing it.

Precious Moments

There are moments in our lives that make our crazy day-to-day living all worth it. I call these precious moments. I had one today with my nephew. I had just brought him in from swimming and was setting him up to watch his favorite dvd. I leaned over to kiss him and tell him that I love him and he kissed me with his wet cold swimming lips and said, "I wove you". He says "I love you" with all the sincerity someone could say it. There are no hidden agendas, no feelings of obligation, just simple love. His big brown eyes look up at me with such innocence. I want to take him and hold him forever. I know I probably shouldn't say it, but I hope he won't grow up. I know he will, but there's a part of me that wants him to remain the sweet, innocent little boy he is now.
There are other precious moments, like when someone does something small for you that maybe no one else would notice, but they notice you need something and silently get it for you, and it means a lot to you. Moments when you feel like your heart will break because you love someone so much. Moments when your family lets you know how much they love you, just when you thought they would be so much better off without you. I could go on forever, but I won't. These moments make life special and it some ways make it worth living. It's the times when you express and receive love that make living enjoyable and the precious moments we all experience are the bright spots in our lives.

SomeThoughts Not My Own

I've been doing a lot of reading lately and I've found so many things that are good thoughts from other people. Today I want to post some from Oswald Chambers.

Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed. "If any man come to Me and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple." There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply - If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me. A man touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says - "Now I see Who Jesus is," and that is the source of devotion.
To-day we have substituted credal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is a source of deep offence to the educated mind of to-day that does not want Him in any other way than as a Comrade. Our Lord's first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat. The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of the life is its unobtrusiveness. It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape (John 12:24).

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." . . . "I have called you friends." John 15:13, 15

Jesus does not ask me to die for Him, but to lay down my life for Him. Peter said - "I will lay down my life for Thy sake" and he meant it; his sense of the heroic was magnificent. It would be a bad thing to be incapable of making such a declaration as Peter made; the sense of our duty is only realized by our sense of the heroic. Has the Lord ever asked you - "Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake?" It is far easier to die than to lay down the life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling. We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways. There was only one brilliant moment in the life of Jesus, and that was on the Mount of Transfiguration; then He emptied Himself the second time of His glory, and came down into the demon-possessed valley. For thirty-three years Jesus laid out His life to do the will of His Father, and, John says, "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." It is contrary to human nature to do it.
If I am a friend of Jesus, I have deliberately and carefully to lay down my life for Him. It is difficult, and thank God it is difficult. Salvation is easy because it cost God so much, but the manifestation of it in my life is difficult. God saves a man and endues him with the Holy Spirit, and then says in effect - "Now work it out, be loyal to Me, whilst the nature of things round about you would make you disloyal." "I have called you friends." Stand loyal to your Friend, and remember that His honour is at stake in your bodily life.

Something I learned from someone else: "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him and He will do it." Psalms. 37:4,5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5 These two Scriptures both talk about trusting God. The Hebrew word for trust means to literally lie on the ground flat on your back. In other words you put yourself in a position where you are totally dependent on something else to hold you up and support you. To trust the Lord means to put myself in a position where I am totally relying on Him to support me and help me and I am leaning on Him, not using one bit of my own strength to accomplish anything. When I trust Him, He takes care of everything including my happiness. This is definitely something I am still working on but I am learning more how to do this day by day.