june 29th

"Man, you had to be there!" I have heard people say this when they are trying to describe an event they were a part of. It may have been a professional ball game, or a concert by their favorite artist, or an amazing vacation over-seas, or just something experienced by a group of friends. There seem to be a lack of words when it comes to our description of the event, and the best we can do is say, "Man, you had to be there!" Because, if you had been there, you would better understand the impact of the event.

Tuesday night, June 29th, was one of those events for me; one of those unplanned, unrehearsed, unprepared events...at least unplanned in my mind. It would be hard to say unrehearsed and unprepared. As a worshipper, we should always be rehearsed and prepared for times of worshipping God. Whenever we open His Word to read what He wants us to know, we are being prepared for His presence in our life. Whenever we think about how He is working in our life, how He is orchestrating everything according to His plan for us.....we are rehearsing for what He is about to do. So often, we don't plan for Him. Kind of like Tuesday night. Our plan, as part of an after-dinner time of fellowship together, was to play a few songs and have prayer. A very simple plan. Our plan was not His plan for us. We had placed our plan within a time frame, and were focused on our group; staff and spouses.

His plan was so much better. His plan eliminated our time frame for worship. Our plan was 25-30 minutes....He led us for over two hours in worship. Our plan included just us....He included those passing by the building; camp personnel, counselors, and volunteers. Our plan had an air-conditioned room....His plan opened the doors and windows for everyone to hear His worship. I believe what made this event so special was the realization that we no longer had control of our plan and we surrendered to God's plan for us.....to worship at the top of our lungs for however long He led us and to not restrict His plan in any way.

Yes, God's plan affected everyone in the house; all our guests, all the staff, and me. And yes, you had to be there for that event to understand what it was like. But, those events are in every moment of our life. Are you rehearsed and prepared? Whose plan are you using?