people, places and things that matter: part 1

wow! the last week-and-a-half have been filled with people and places, and i am badly behind on writing about it! it has been good, very good...

last friday i drove to michigan city and hopped on the southshore train to chicago. i love the train --cheap, easy ride, and no parking hassles! i got off just before millenium park and literally dashed to the Field Museum where i was just in time to hear one Kathy's (my sister) choirs from her school in South Dakota sing. they sounded pretty fabulous in the hall of the field museum!
after that we had about two hours to head up Michigan Ave. to find some place to eat. we didn't have time for the great places like cheesecake factory or giordano's, so we ended up at a Japanese place that had good atmosphere and less than stellar food; didn't really matter much since we were mostly interested in cramming in as much catching up as possible. it was just good to see and talk to my sister; seems like when i go home we get so little time to really talk.

after about 3 1/2 short hours in Chicago i got back on the southshore, a double decker this time. it was a beautiful sunny day, and i found it was the perfect opportunity to do some thinking. had i written this post shortly after, i might have been able to relate some of whatever i was thinking about. ;-p i know it had to do with the importance of family and my relationship with my sister.

when i got home we headed over to phil and alice's house, friends of ours from church. alice is truly the hostess with the mostest; we had a fabulous homemade pizza, salad, and dessert, and then we taught them to play ticket to ride, our new favorite game. phil, being the the former missionary and world traveler that he is, was hooked immediately and interspersed the game with stories of his travels to various locations on the map. that was a first! we had a great evening with them.

on Saturday i went with several of the guys from church to a Lincoln Brewster seminar and concert in Ohio. i was really impressed with LB; as a teacher, i found him to be very engaging while at the same time very unpretentious--a trait i admire. and though he's obviously extremely talented and does go off on these impressive random guitar riff occasionally, he seems to have the right attitude about performance vs worship. he's also written some fantastic worship songs, many that we do at church.

the thing he said that i'll remember most, as it pertains to worship leading and planning services, is that sometimes you need to make decisions based on your values verses your preferences. as i thought about my own varied experience of leading worship both at first menno back in berne, and now at lifespring, this really rang true. you have to fight the tendency to do what you want the way you want for the sake of leading the congregation; in other words, you need to ask, "what will best serve those i am leading? what will best bring them before Jesus?" i think that's so extremely important--but it's easy to lose in the midst of wanting to be impressive, wanting to lead songs that you like, this sort of thing.

i have to admit --i didn't go along to the seminar/concert for the usual reasons i would go to such an event; leading worship isn't foremost on my mind these days. i guess i went because it seems important to me right now to surround myself by people of faith, and, i'd even say --experiences of faith. there are plenty of voices that rise up within me on a given day lately that tempt me to think life is unfair, God is unfair --or that i am lost right now...unsure of my purpose, destiny, potential...but to surround myself for an evening or even a day with the presence of praise can do a lot to "reset" my system...to be lifted up for an evening by lifting Him up, to forget about me and simply sing the truth...man, it does for the soul what a hot shower on a cold day does for the body. it was the right place for me to be.

all that, AND it was just stinkin' fun hanging out with the guys in the van ride. dave (yes, pastor dave) introduced me to boggle on his i-phone; i was hooked!

i also came back determined to get my bass guitar out and actually improve my skill. brought it home from church today, in fact. now i just have to borrow an amp and actually practice. :-) i'm playing bass on the worship team next weekend; great incentive.

alrightee, well, i actually have a whole week in pennsylvania to catch up on yet, but it will have to wait. it's sunday, i was away from rob all week, and i need to go and spend some good relax time with him! (which may incidentally mean catching up on this week's LOST episode!)