It Comes in Waves

Seems like busyness comes in waves. This last week I completed a wedding video, put together all the necessaries for Thursday practice and worship on Sunday, drove 300 miles (60 miles in the snow, and required to chain up... 75 minutes in each direction going 30mph) to pick up some gear for a banquet I was helping with, ran A/V for the banquet, and tomorrow I get to return the gear. Good grief. However, today is a great day because I really have almost nothing to do for the first time in a while. Which is one reason I'm updating this here weblog. A few quick points to make. Leading worship at The Well (it's the name of my church, for those of you not in the know) has been incredible in its intensity and the fact that every week is incredibly humbling. I am painfully and constantly aware of my own inadequacy in a way I had not previously experienced until the last couple months. Something almost always goes awry before we lead on Sundays, but it is SO GOOD when we actually lead. It's frustrating to the part of me who just wants things to go smoothly, just to run a practice according to some plan I have. But the fact that HE is faithful in the face of our annoyances means in my mind he gets all the credit to which He is entitled. Namely, all the credit. After Jacob, soon to be Israel, wrestled with God, God touched his hip socket and he walked with a limp as a reminder of his ordeal. I think the fact that practices so rarely go as planned may be one of many limps I have in my own life. Not that I shouldn't strive for excellence in all things, but need to constantly be reminded to hold everything with an open palm. He always has a better plan, which most of the time seems to be different than my plan. Time to learn to be a better pray-er, methinks. The banquet I worked with was for Lahash International, the guys who are letting me stay in their house in exchange for working with them. Over the last four months or so, the Lahash staff and volunteers have been spending huge amounts of time organizing and getting everything into place for their first banquet. There were around 250 people gathered together last Saturday to hear how God has been using Lahash over the last six or seven years. I'm not a big fan of events, but this one went beautifully, and I was inspired again for the work God has for me. I know I won't be able to leave permanently overseas for a couple years, maybe a bit less, but I was excited again to serve in the way He has prepared for me. The evening featured four videos, and with each one I was more and more ready to grab my camera gear and head into the world. Certainly there are some things I need to wrap up, some relationships to build, skills to develop, but I'm excited to get started, if only from here in Portland.

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