We're heading for the stunning beaches of Zanzibar! Yahoo!!!
Everything has been busy, busy, busy. Always something to be done. Always somewhere to go. It's time for a breather. Time for a break from the chaos we make of life. (Why do we make everything so complicated, anyway?)
I'm looking forward to a week of nothing planned.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tanzi
You've been a great dog Tanzi!
She passed away on Thursday this week (26th). We've been sad, but she left us four gorgeous, healthy puppies to comfort us! They've been keeping us busy, as we have to bottle feed them every three hours or so; but its all worth it to hold their minute bodies as they squeel and squirm for more milk.
I've been catching myself singing this song lately. I don't know where it's from but the one line I keep repeating is:
"Life, oh life, life is a miracle."
She passed away on Thursday this week (26th). We've been sad, but she left us four gorgeous, healthy puppies to comfort us! They've been keeping us busy, as we have to bottle feed them every three hours or so; but its all worth it to hold their minute bodies as they squeel and squirm for more milk.
I've been catching myself singing this song lately. I don't know where it's from but the one line I keep repeating is:
"Life, oh life, life is a miracle."
Monday, September 24, 2007
Watanzania 2008 Calendar.1
“Watanzania” (the people of Tanzania) is a 2008 calendar that I designed as a means to show others my pictures and to raise money for college. I included the faces of various ethnic groups in Tanzania: Maasai, Bantu, and coastal-Swahili people. These people are stunning and offer me plenty of opportunities for excellent pictures.
Calendars are$20 (US) or if you live in Tanzania 20,000 Tz Shillings. If you are interested in buying one (or a few) either leave a comment or email me at srussell91@earthlink.net for details.
I want to thank you in advance for you contribution to my passion for photography and helping me go to college. Please enjoy this calendar of beautiful Watanzania faces in 2008.
A couple reminders: “S Russell Photos” is not on the calendars, I just do that so no one can steal my pics. Some people are picky about what the first day of the week is on this calendar: it starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday.
Calendars are$20 (US) or if you live in Tanzania 20,000 Tz Shillings. If you are interested in buying one (or a few) either leave a comment or email me at srussell91@earthlink.net for details.
I want to thank you in advance for you contribution to my passion for photography and helping me go to college. Please enjoy this calendar of beautiful Watanzania faces in 2008.
A couple reminders: “S Russell Photos” is not on the calendars, I just do that so no one can steal my pics. Some people are picky about what the first day of the week is on this calendar: it starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
New Record!
We've seen people JUMP it.
We've even seen people jump it WITH a bike.
But we've never seen anyone jump it ON a bike.
...that is until September 12, 2007.
Congradulations Matt! ...for jumping the gorge a meter and a half across and 20 meters down!
We've even seen people jump it WITH a bike.
But we've never seen anyone jump it ON a bike.
...that is until September 12, 2007.
Congradulations Matt! ...for jumping the gorge a meter and a half across and 20 meters down!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Nyota (a)
Nyota Ndogo (Small Stars) is the soccer team that I play on here in Arusha. They practice in a slum called Unga Limited on a field that no American would call a “field”. It is all dirt except for a trash dump in one corner, and a marsh in another. Broken glass, pieces of trash, cows and goats are frequently found across the rutted field. But the soccer team, simply sees it as open place to play the one game they love.
I am the only white person who plays on the team. Chase and Colin regularly practice with the team as well, making three white boys amongst many dark colored Tanzanians. Regardless of the color difference, my teammates are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. They treat me as one of them. Which means that they don’t give me extra attention just because I’m a white guy. But that’s how I like it; I hate when they over-favor wazungu (white people).
When you get to know each one of them, they change from being blank faces to intricate characters. Each one of them has a unique personality. Some of the guys are jokesters; others are quite; some are strong leaders; others are eager followers.
The team bought a small shack, which has now become the “kuku club” as I call it. The team is raising chickens (kuku) as a way to pay for club fees (transport to games/cleats/uniforms ect.).
The “kuku club”: You walk into a skinny hall about 3 feet across. There are two doors on your left: one is where the chickens are kept (which actually connects to another room that has more chickens) and the other is a small room with a couple of beds. There is always at least one person somewhere in the “kuku club” to watch and guard the chickens. They even have night shifts. The person guarding (usually a player on the team) is usually resting and listening to the radio in the room with the beds.
But now for the “club” part.
First, I have to mention that every one in the soccer community of Unga watches and reads about Premiership games, European leagues and the teams and players of European football. Everyone has a team that they are devoted to. If someone asks you what your team is, you can’t say that you don’t have a team. And you can’t say that you kind of like a certain team and you aren’t really faithful to them all the time. You have to be an avid fan of your team. Like I said, everyone has their team: some love Arsenal, others are devoted to Manchester Unt. ect. Some are more loyal to their team as others. I’ve even heard of some of my teammates who won’t eat any food for a considerable amount of time after their team looses a big game.
Their eyes are always watching the European leagues. Their actions are always according to how the European players play. If someone looks or plays like a European player, they even give him that player’s name as a nick-name. (Occasionally I’m called Crouch-my height- or Van Nisel Roi-my hair).
Their dreams (almost EVERY single one of them) is to play soccer in Europe. They curiously watch everything their heroes do, and mimic everything.
They see the players in a European soccer game run onto the field out of their locker rooms; so they figure “we’ve got to have a locker room.” And that is exactly what the “kuku club” has become.
Before every game, the whole team crams into and lines up along each side of the 3-foot-wide hall. We all get dressed for the game, and the coach gives us a little prep-talk about the game. Then we all run out onto the field in a straight line. Everything is done exactly the same as in Pro-soccer.
When we get onto the field, we start warming up. We do a bunch of really fun warm up exercises. I’m pretty sure a few of them are mimics of Pro-soccer warm up drills, but the really fun ones I’m sure are their own inventions.
It doesn’t take long to notice that Africans are very rhythmic. EVERYTHING is done to a beat. I think it is so ingrained in them that it becomes subconscious. The coach tells us to run around the field 5 times. Before we get around the field once, EVERYONE is jogging at the exact same rate: all their cleats stomping on the hard ground simultaneously. It’s so cool.
The warm up drills that they come up with…you really have to see them. We all line up and one person leads an exercise that is so complex and rhythmic that it’s basically a groovy dance move. We do that exercise for a while until someone leads another even more complex one. Everyone loves the fancy drills and children line up just to watch the team warm up. People are always saying “tupe nyingine” (give us another one). So another person leads a routine of clamping, stomping, jumping, head-bobbing, fake kicking or a variety of other favorites to a complex beat and everyone else follows along until another one is brought up.
When we are called to the center of the field by the ref, we all line up facing one sideline (one team on one side of the field, the other team on the other side of the field). The ref goes behind each player who lifts each foot for the ref to check. I don’t really know what the ref is looking for, and I don’t know if the ref does either. I know in the states, the refs look for metal studs; but here, few people have any cleats left on their shoes at all (they’re just warn down too much). I’ve never seen a ref make any objection to anyone’s cleats. I think they do it, just because they’ve seen it done over seas.
Next, the refs stand in the middle of the two teams in the very center of the field, and the center ref blows his whistle. Everyone knows what to do: we raise our hands and wave to the “crowd” (most often a group of 5-11 year olds), and then turn around and wave to “the other side of the stadium” (most often no one stands on that side of the field). But who cares, they do it in the big leagues.
These are just a couple of the things that I have noticed that they mimic. If I notice a few more, I’ll keep you posted.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Good Day!
Yesterday was a big day!
It started out when I helped Nadine lead worship at Vineyard. It was so refreshing! There was something about it, I can’t say exactly what, but it was like a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t that we played perfectly. We did practice before hand and that made everything go really smoothly; but we still had a few glitches. But that didn’t matter. What matter was that we were worshipping. At least I was. (Maybe nobody else enjoyed it, but I sure did☺).
Before the service, I asked God not to disappoint me. (Honestly, I’ve been feeling a bit disappointed lately as I have left recent church services). I wanted to feel His presence. I wanted God to show up.
He did!
After church, our family went out to eat, and then I walked from there to Unga Limited. The rest of the family went back home, as I headed for the soccer field for the big game! Our team, Nyota Ndogo (Little Stars) had reached the finals in a local tournament. It was the day of the final.
As I was walking down the dirt road, I came across one the Nyota “scouts”. I call them “scouts”. They are everywhere. There’s a whole network of them. You see my soccer team, Nyota Ndogo, practices on a soccer field in a slum area, and all (at least most) of them live very close to the field. During any kind of team event, big or small, you’ll come across a “scout” on nearly every corner. They have this network all figured out. The scouts can be players, assistant coaches, or any of the hundreds of kids that are avid fans of the soccer team. These “scouts” are very useful. If you need to know the score of a game that is currently playing, if you need to call a dala dala (local transport bus) to take the team to a game, if you need to find one of the players, just send a “scout”. I assume that they pass the information from one “scout” to another, so they only have to run to the next corner or so; thought sometimes, if it’s important business, the “scout” will go all the way and back himself. It’s a pretty fascinating system.
So…as I was saying, I came across one of these “scouts”. Apparently, his job was to take me to Franki’s house. It was a big game, so the team met in a bigger room then the cramped kuku club house (I’ll have to tell you about that in another blog) to get dressed and get ready for the game. I hopped on the back of the “scout’s” bike and we road off. Every one was amazed to see an mzungu (white person) riding on the back of a bicycle. Every 10 seconds I would hear some funny comment about the white person on the bicycle.
We won the game 3-0! But to me, that wasn’t the highlight: the highlight was the celebration. If you weren’t there, you have NO IDEA what it was like. But, I’ll do my best to describe it for those who didn’t have the opportunity to witness it first hand.
First of all, you have to realize that practically the whole local soccer community is watching the game. 80% of this community is children. You have hundreds of fanatical 5-11 year olds enthusiastically watching the game. You also have some of the “scouts” who have been told by the coach to run around the field waving a Nyota flag to get the crowd hyped up. When we scored the third goal, the little kids couldn’t hold back their excitement: they all rushed onto the field celebrating with the goal-scorer! We couldn’t get the game started again until all the children had been shooed off, which took a couple minutes.
When the final whistle was blown, everything changed to celebration, dancing, mobbing, and chanting. It was crazy! If it had been just a couple minutes of that level of celebration, I would have been impressed; but this continued for 30 minutes!
One of my teammates took the flag and ran to each corner of the field with 50 little kids right at his heels.
Other teammates circled up and started singing little chants as different people took their turn dancing in the middle. If you heard your name, you had to dance in the middle. Of course they wanted to see the mzungu dance. They called my name, and I did a little jig until someone else’s name was called.
Other teammates grabbed our coach and hoisted him in the air.
Groups of teammates would pose for a picture from the cameraman.
The little kids were running and circling around all the players that they looked up to and admired. They were especially flocking to the trophy-bearer. I got to witness a very humorous sight when the trophy was being passed from one player to another. In the chaos of everything the cup unscrewed from the base (it wasn’t the highest quality trophy). But no one let that get in the way of the celebration. One person grabbed the cup and triumphantly ran off with it, as did the person still holding the base. Eventually the base-bearer went running toward the cup-bearer to screw the two back together. The whole atmosphere was thick with joy and jubilee for 30 minutes! It was so fun.
We didn’t leave the field till after dark. I needed to get back home because I was helping to lead the EnGedi worship night. For those of you who don’t know me too well, let me just say: I love to worship! Some people might think that it must have been hard to get back from such a huge day and lead worship; but for me it was so relaxing. I felt so comforted as I led the worship that night.
I got ready for bed. Dad said: “Wow! Big day for you Skyler: worship, soccer, worship.”
It sure was a big day: a good day!
It started out when I helped Nadine lead worship at Vineyard. It was so refreshing! There was something about it, I can’t say exactly what, but it was like a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t that we played perfectly. We did practice before hand and that made everything go really smoothly; but we still had a few glitches. But that didn’t matter. What matter was that we were worshipping. At least I was. (Maybe nobody else enjoyed it, but I sure did☺).
Before the service, I asked God not to disappoint me. (Honestly, I’ve been feeling a bit disappointed lately as I have left recent church services). I wanted to feel His presence. I wanted God to show up.
He did!
After church, our family went out to eat, and then I walked from there to Unga Limited. The rest of the family went back home, as I headed for the soccer field for the big game! Our team, Nyota Ndogo (Little Stars) had reached the finals in a local tournament. It was the day of the final.
As I was walking down the dirt road, I came across one the Nyota “scouts”. I call them “scouts”. They are everywhere. There’s a whole network of them. You see my soccer team, Nyota Ndogo, practices on a soccer field in a slum area, and all (at least most) of them live very close to the field. During any kind of team event, big or small, you’ll come across a “scout” on nearly every corner. They have this network all figured out. The scouts can be players, assistant coaches, or any of the hundreds of kids that are avid fans of the soccer team. These “scouts” are very useful. If you need to know the score of a game that is currently playing, if you need to call a dala dala (local transport bus) to take the team to a game, if you need to find one of the players, just send a “scout”. I assume that they pass the information from one “scout” to another, so they only have to run to the next corner or so; thought sometimes, if it’s important business, the “scout” will go all the way and back himself. It’s a pretty fascinating system.
So…as I was saying, I came across one of these “scouts”. Apparently, his job was to take me to Franki’s house. It was a big game, so the team met in a bigger room then the cramped kuku club house (I’ll have to tell you about that in another blog) to get dressed and get ready for the game. I hopped on the back of the “scout’s” bike and we road off. Every one was amazed to see an mzungu (white person) riding on the back of a bicycle. Every 10 seconds I would hear some funny comment about the white person on the bicycle.
We won the game 3-0! But to me, that wasn’t the highlight: the highlight was the celebration. If you weren’t there, you have NO IDEA what it was like. But, I’ll do my best to describe it for those who didn’t have the opportunity to witness it first hand.
First of all, you have to realize that practically the whole local soccer community is watching the game. 80% of this community is children. You have hundreds of fanatical 5-11 year olds enthusiastically watching the game. You also have some of the “scouts” who have been told by the coach to run around the field waving a Nyota flag to get the crowd hyped up. When we scored the third goal, the little kids couldn’t hold back their excitement: they all rushed onto the field celebrating with the goal-scorer! We couldn’t get the game started again until all the children had been shooed off, which took a couple minutes.
When the final whistle was blown, everything changed to celebration, dancing, mobbing, and chanting. It was crazy! If it had been just a couple minutes of that level of celebration, I would have been impressed; but this continued for 30 minutes!
One of my teammates took the flag and ran to each corner of the field with 50 little kids right at his heels.
Other teammates circled up and started singing little chants as different people took their turn dancing in the middle. If you heard your name, you had to dance in the middle. Of course they wanted to see the mzungu dance. They called my name, and I did a little jig until someone else’s name was called.
Other teammates grabbed our coach and hoisted him in the air.
Groups of teammates would pose for a picture from the cameraman.
The little kids were running and circling around all the players that they looked up to and admired. They were especially flocking to the trophy-bearer. I got to witness a very humorous sight when the trophy was being passed from one player to another. In the chaos of everything the cup unscrewed from the base (it wasn’t the highest quality trophy). But no one let that get in the way of the celebration. One person grabbed the cup and triumphantly ran off with it, as did the person still holding the base. Eventually the base-bearer went running toward the cup-bearer to screw the two back together. The whole atmosphere was thick with joy and jubilee for 30 minutes! It was so fun.
We didn’t leave the field till after dark. I needed to get back home because I was helping to lead the EnGedi worship night. For those of you who don’t know me too well, let me just say: I love to worship! Some people might think that it must have been hard to get back from such a huge day and lead worship; but for me it was so relaxing. I felt so comforted as I led the worship that night.
I got ready for bed. Dad said: “Wow! Big day for you Skyler: worship, soccer, worship.”
It sure was a big day: a good day!
Friday, June 01, 2007
NEW GUITAR!!!
I got a new guitar today!!! I've already fallen in love with it! I've already worshiped with it at Reality Carpenteria! I've already emailed friends about it!
I've been wanting a really nice plug-in guitar since a couple months before we left for the states (about February-ish). Originally, I had wanted to get one as soon as we landed here in the states, so that I wouldn't have to suffer being guitarless. My uncle Michael let me borrow is baby Taylor guitar. Because I had a guitar to play, I wasn't pressured to buy one, so I kept putting it off. Now that I look back, I'm glad that I did. This guitar that I just got sells for $1500 not encluding taxes (taxes would make it $1620). I got it for $1250: almost $400 cheaper.
Praise God!!!
He provides.
Getting the guitar would have made my day in its self, but God decided to add a cherry on top.
Last night I met Dominic. He's the worship leader at Reality Carpenteria. After simply meeting me and hearing that I was planning on getting a guitar he offered to take me the following day to Guitar Center. (How nice is that?!!!!) He's such a cool guy. We got to talk a little while we were driving there and on the way back.
...So I was trying to lead into the cherry on top...
Oh yeah...so just hours after buying the guitar, I got to help Dominic lead worship!!! It was such a rad worship time. I really felt that it flowed so easily, so gracefully. The songs were so joyous and heart felt. I think part of the joy I found in the worship was that feeling that you have when you have a brand new guitar under your arm, and when you strum it, it sounds clean and warm. I love that feeling. I am loving it more. I've already played it a lot since the worship time (that was only 3 hours ago) and I'm loving it more every time I play it.
Lord, I pray that you will use that bright, crisp sound that echoes out of my new guitar for your glory. I have just received it, but already I offer it up to you, Lord. May your name be glorified.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Sorry...
I just realized something (that most of you already know) about myself:
I'm really bad at keeping up this blog!
haha
So for those of you who check this blog everyday hoping to find a new post, only to find that same post that's been up for a couple weeks: sorry. I'm just not good at it. I'm not saying i'm going to stop blogging: no way. Just don't expect a nex post every day.
While I'm here, I might as well say that I'm having a great time here in the states!!! It's so good to see friends/family. The big bummer, though, is that all our time is limited and our schedule is so so SO busy. I'd love to spend more time with my friends but it seems like were always doing something else. I guess that's just how furloughs are.
I'm really bad at keeping up this blog!
haha
So for those of you who check this blog everyday hoping to find a new post, only to find that same post that's been up for a couple weeks: sorry. I'm just not good at it. I'm not saying i'm going to stop blogging: no way. Just don't expect a nex post every day.
While I'm here, I might as well say that I'm having a great time here in the states!!! It's so good to see friends/family. The big bummer, though, is that all our time is limited and our schedule is so so SO busy. I'd love to spend more time with my friends but it seems like were always doing something else. I guess that's just how furloughs are.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Here We Come
We’re leaving for the states in 4 days.
Wow! just 4 days. So much to do, it can’t be 4 days…. but it is.
But why am I surprised: it’s like this every time we go on a big trip. I should be used to it: I guess I am a little, but not all the way. I don’t think it’s possible to get used to it 100%.
I’m excited. Very excited. It’s going to be fun getting back to see friends and family.
I’ve really been praying lately that I’ll be able to communicate with others my experiences here in Africa. I can see how it might be a challenge because it can be so easy to say your doing one thing when you’re actually doing another. It’s so easy to put on a face that’s not yours; especially when you’re in a place that very few people have been to. As a result of their limited knowledge, they’ll believe almost anything you tell them, and our habit is to tell them what they want to hear. I want to be real. I want to tell people what I do here in Africa, and what I like to do.
Yeah, I have fun here. I get to ride motorcycles. I get to go to gorgeous places. I get to hang out with really cool friends. I get to play soccer.
And yeah, sometimes things are hard. Sometimes it’s awkward. But, honestly, not as much as many people think. You get used to it. I’ve gotten so used to it that it is more home than the states are.
It’s still going to be really good to get back the states.
I’m looking forward to:
surfing
playing guitar with my Uncle Michael and Trevor Borden (and hopefully buying another guitar)
hanging out with good friends
family reunion
fishing…..
Wow! just 4 days. So much to do, it can’t be 4 days…. but it is.
But why am I surprised: it’s like this every time we go on a big trip. I should be used to it: I guess I am a little, but not all the way. I don’t think it’s possible to get used to it 100%.
I’m excited. Very excited. It’s going to be fun getting back to see friends and family.
I’ve really been praying lately that I’ll be able to communicate with others my experiences here in Africa. I can see how it might be a challenge because it can be so easy to say your doing one thing when you’re actually doing another. It’s so easy to put on a face that’s not yours; especially when you’re in a place that very few people have been to. As a result of their limited knowledge, they’ll believe almost anything you tell them, and our habit is to tell them what they want to hear. I want to be real. I want to tell people what I do here in Africa, and what I like to do.
Yeah, I have fun here. I get to ride motorcycles. I get to go to gorgeous places. I get to hang out with really cool friends. I get to play soccer.
And yeah, sometimes things are hard. Sometimes it’s awkward. But, honestly, not as much as many people think. You get used to it. I’ve gotten so used to it that it is more home than the states are.
It’s still going to be really good to get back the states.
I’m looking forward to:
surfing
playing guitar with my Uncle Michael and Trevor Borden (and hopefully buying another guitar)
hanging out with good friends
family reunion
fishing…..
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Easter @ the Coast
This Easter, our family went to the coast. We, well at least I, had an incredible time! If you’ve ever been to the coast here in east Africa, you’ll know that it’s pretty hard not to have a fun time. But this was more than just a fun time: it was a learning time, a moving ahead time. That’s what made it so exciting for me.
The reason we were going to the coast for Easter was not originally for a holiday, rather my parents were teaching at a CMF retreat. (We just tacked on a holiday at the end: how can you be at the coast and not relax–u know?) It ended up that CMF couldn’t find any one to lead worship for the retreat, so they asked Chase and I.
I love leading worship. It’s a gift God has given me that I am just now starting to grow into. I knew that God had opened that door for Chase and I to lead worship at just the right time. It was a big step, yes, but God never expects you to take a step you can’t make.
After the first evening session of worship, I was so hyped. I get that way every once in a while, when there’s a slight opening in the clouds and I can see just a little ways ahead.
When I can see a couple more of God’s footprints in the sand ahead of me, I get so excited. I just think, WOW: God you love me so much and you have a call that is especially for ME. You have a plan just for me: for my own life.
The next sessions all went really well. But I realized that performing never really worked out to be the best way to lead worship. Performing is self-centered, not God-centered. Worship is God-centered. Before every session I handed everything over to God. He’s given me the talent and he deserves the praise and glory. The best way to lead worship is to worship not to perform. If you just worship than the music comes freely and from the heart. When I worship, others around me are freer, and almost obligated to really worship themselves.
On Easter morning Pam, Delia, my mom, Chase and I got up before sunrise. We went out onto a deck that overlooks the Indian Ocean. We worshiped. We really worshiped. I didn’t have songs planned out before hand and if I were performing I really wouldn’t have done well; but we were worshiping, not performing. We sat on the edge of the deck and watched the sun come up over the clouds. The whole ocean was purple, red and orange and the sky was shimmering with warm colors. It was so glorious. At that moment I think all of us knew: “He has risen indeed!”
We went swimming in the warm water, made a sand castle, and Pam taught me a new song (“Scandalous Night”: inspiring lyrics). It was such a joyous morning. I love God’s grandeur. It’s contagious.
Huh, I was going to talk about all the fun stuff we did at the coast and try to get you jealous; but compared to all of the
above nothing else sounds like as much fun as it really was. :-)
We swam a lot: I mean a ton. We rode waves in the ocean: had a lot of fun. I did some windsurfing: well I tried. And rode some dolphins: actually, I lied.
Does that compare at all with the worshipping stuff, the stepping into your calling stuff, the glorious Easter morning stuff? …I didn’t think so.
Oh yeah…we all got ear infections. Not fun AT ALL. Chase, Leighton and I had it first and by the time we got back almost everyone who swam in the ocean had gotten it. It’s horribly painful. For two nights I got hardly any sleep at all because I couldn’t even touch my ears without them throbbing. Then one of my ears clogged up completely (couldn’t hear a thing out of it). I think Chase and Leighton had it worse than me though: at one point, Chase had both ears clogged.
But now we are all better. Thank you Jesus.
Happy Easter everybody!!!
The reason we were going to the coast for Easter was not originally for a holiday, rather my parents were teaching at a CMF retreat. (We just tacked on a holiday at the end: how can you be at the coast and not relax–u know?) It ended up that CMF couldn’t find any one to lead worship for the retreat, so they asked Chase and I.
I love leading worship. It’s a gift God has given me that I am just now starting to grow into. I knew that God had opened that door for Chase and I to lead worship at just the right time. It was a big step, yes, but God never expects you to take a step you can’t make.
After the first evening session of worship, I was so hyped. I get that way every once in a while, when there’s a slight opening in the clouds and I can see just a little ways ahead.
When I can see a couple more of God’s footprints in the sand ahead of me, I get so excited. I just think, WOW: God you love me so much and you have a call that is especially for ME. You have a plan just for me: for my own life. The next sessions all went really well. But I realized that performing never really worked out to be the best way to lead worship. Performing is self-centered, not God-centered. Worship is God-centered. Before every session I handed everything over to God. He’s given me the talent and he deserves the praise and glory. The best way to lead worship is to worship not to perform. If you just worship than the music comes freely and from the heart. When I worship, others around me are freer, and almost obligated to really worship themselves.
On Easter morning Pam, Delia, my mom, Chase and I got up before sunrise. We went out onto a deck that overlooks the Indian Ocean. We worshiped. We really worshiped. I didn’t have songs planned out before hand and if I were performing I really wouldn’t have done well; but we were worshiping, not performing. We sat on the edge of the deck and watched the sun come up over the clouds. The whole ocean was purple, red and orange and the sky was shimmering with warm colors. It was so glorious. At that moment I think all of us knew: “He has risen indeed!” We went swimming in the warm water, made a sand castle, and Pam taught me a new song (“Scandalous Night”: inspiring lyrics). It was such a joyous morning. I love God’s grandeur. It’s contagious.
Huh, I was going to talk about all the fun stuff we did at the coast and try to get you jealous; but compared to all of the above nothing else sounds like as much fun as it really was. :-)
We swam a lot: I mean a ton. We rode waves in the ocean: had a lot of fun. I did some windsurfing: well I tried. And rode some dolphins: actually, I lied.
Does that compare at all with the worshipping stuff, the stepping into your calling stuff, the glorious Easter morning stuff? …I didn’t think so.
Oh yeah…we all got ear infections. Not fun AT ALL. Chase, Leighton and I had it first and by the time we got back almost everyone who swam in the ocean had gotten it. It’s horribly painful. For two nights I got hardly any sleep at all because I couldn’t even touch my ears without them throbbing. Then one of my ears clogged up completely (couldn’t hear a thing out of it). I think Chase and Leighton had it worse than me though: at one point, Chase had both ears clogged.
But now we are all better. Thank you Jesus.
Happy Easter everybody!!!
Friday, March 23, 2007
I'm Back
Yahoo!!! I can blog again.
Just to let everyone know, I din't just stop blogging because I got bored of it. We had some technical difficulties with our server her at Joshua Foundation. Jeremy (our tech guy) asked everyone here on base to send him any addresses that we couldn't access (so that he could do his techy stuff and amaze us all). ...well, I forgot to send him the blogger address.
...and kept putting it off.
...until I finally remembered the other day.
Thanks Jeremy!!!
So now I can blog again!!!
Just to let everyone know, I din't just stop blogging because I got bored of it. We had some technical difficulties with our server her at Joshua Foundation. Jeremy (our tech guy) asked everyone here on base to send him any addresses that we couldn't access (so that he could do his techy stuff and amaze us all). ...well, I forgot to send him the blogger address.
...and kept putting it off.
...until I finally remembered the other day.
Thanks Jeremy!!!
So now I can blog again!!!
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