Thursday, August 19, 2010

A New Perspective

I was talking to our worship leader about the songs we sing. He said he was tired of a certain song and I chimed in that I was tired of many of the songs we sing. He said he wasn't really tired of them, he just wanted to have more variety. We proceeded to start the service and I stood in my normal position on the left side of the stage, behind the keyboard.


I played and sang along and noticed the young lady visiting for the first time. I only knew her name and that she had just gotten out of jail. She obviously didn't know the words, but it didn't seem to matter. She was listening intently, singing some, bowing her head some, crying some, raising her hands some, and nodding in agreement.

It was the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time. When you are in the ministry, this is one of those moments you live for. You give everything you have over and over again for moments like these.

Those songs that I said I was tired of, now had new meaning. I had a new perspective.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

What's new?

Mandi, my 8 year old, can bake a loaf of bread, by hand, from memory, all by herself. It turns out great!

Levi has started reading classic literature for pleasure, like Robinson Crusoe, Sherlock Holmes, and Kidnapped.

Mandi led worship at church last week. Our worship leader was out of town. She played the piano and sang 4 songs. She even played quietly while her daddy was praying. I wanted to do that at her age but didn't have the confidence. She is very comfortable doing it.

I am so enjoying being frugal. It leads to a much simpler life and I get so much more done. We are eating healthier, spend more time together and the kids are learning more about living real life. I keep thinking about how lazy we Americans are. We will pay people to do so many things that we could easily do ourselves. We pay people to entertain us, when we could probably have much more fun if we would do it ourselves and we would be more connected to the ones we love. We pay for people to cook our food. I am noticing how often we buy plastic in various shapes and forms. I am thinking about toys, containers, office supplies. The list goes on.