i have a quirky sense of humor. meaning you may not find any of this funny. but i'm laughing a lot these days thanks to several sources. so the least i can do is share :-) here's a very few of the things making me laugh.
i can't help but laugh when i see this. until i'm at work, and then it seems like every child in the building is lining up behind this one!
this one cracks.me.up. anthony also laugh-approved it.
i don't use pinterest just for recipes and home organization tips (but i'm always trying something off my boards!)
it has other uses too. one of my bff's natasha and i constantly send each other gems we find that we would never post publicly...but there are a few exceptions that i'll share here.
(the next one pretty much sums us up)
(oh and this one too)
the amazing amanda shared this with me when she was at our house for dinner the other night. we laughed our butts off, so i HAVE to share it with you.
all those "hey girl" memes make me giggle a lot. but THIS one is just extra-special.
replace "men" with "everyone"...
natasha sent this one to me too. if you work with children (your own or someone else's) you'll relate to this at least a few times!
this one makes me laugh and cry simultaneously
and finally...
which leads right into this. you HAVE to watch this. and just know that i WILL instagram it.
***photo/video credits...all of these have been found on facebook, twitter, youtube or pinterest. :-)
last night i found myself helping to lead worship at a midweek service
which is always a nice pick-me-up
especially when i'm leading with some of my favorite people :)
michael, my friend who lead the service, found this video on youtube and played it at the beginning of the service.
he began it with simple words on the screen:
"a guy walking the streets of new york just can't stop himself from praising"
and then the video. WOW.
there's such simplicity here. a guy walking around listening to his ipod...but there's something rising in him that's so organic, so fresh, so come up to the top, that he can't stop himself.
it made me wonder. as i looked around the room and watched people react to the video
when did they last get so lost in worship that they just couldn't stop themselves from praising?
when's the last time *I* did?
what's wrong with us if we don't lose ourselves more often?
it doesn't have to look like anything spectacular. in fact, it often doesn't.
for me, the last time it happened was monday night at a 20s/30s worship event i attend every week. at the end of the service we all went forward to pray and worship just...happened. i found myself singing at the top of my lungs--some unknown song--and not caring one bit if anyone heard me or didn't.
i've seen people take different postures of worship, use different languages to praise, and just stand and silently weep.
i'm known to lose myself in worship in my car...which doesn't always work out financially but it always brings me to a new level (seriously: go read the story. it's especially meaningful for me to remember it now with the events of the last few months...)
all of this to say...lose yourself today. or tomorrow. or sunday morning at church. or...whenever. just spend some time being so carried away by His presence that you can't.do.anything.else.
and then...would you share with me or someone? it would be a great encouragement!
(oh yeah, and here's the video--watch! conveniently located right next to my music player so you can turn it off...i SO planned that...ok, i didn't :)
Yesterday morning I was leading worship at my church, as I do regularly on the "3rd Sunday" praise team.
It was a powerful worship, and we ended it with the song God of This City. You may know it (I'll include a youtube video and lyrics at the end of this post if you don't). It ends on a powerful crescendo of "greater things are yet to come; greater things are still to be done in this city" followed by the softer yet powerful truth of "there is no one like our God...there is no one like our God"
In an acapella setting, the voices linger and resonate throughout the sanctuary for a few moments after the last note is cut off. As we basked in that moment a small child's voice, no older than 3, echoed through the auditorium:
"Amen!"
Amen indeed. There is NO ONE like our God! If the smallest of children can feel that so powerfully in her soul...who am I to question?
And yet sometimes I do.
Help me to be like a child on her Father's knee... to grasp the most awesome and complex of truths in the simplest of ways.
AMEN
(lyrics are included on the video--and it is the original version from Ireland so they are slightly different, so it's definitely worth a listen)
*God of This City was written by a worship band from Ireland (possibly why it's so close to my heart!) on a missions trip to Thailand. They set up the band in a brothel and sang worship songs right in the heart of the sex trade district...and this song came to them than night as they witnessed the brokenness that surrounded them--that the God they were worshiping was STILL the 'God of these people' and the 'Lord of this nation' Makes it all the more powerful to know the story...*
My friend Sam (more about him and his wife) gets to go home tomorrow!
His counts are going up, and although he will continue to be closely monitored, his immune system has developed enough to return to his own home!
Praises...
You know, all day long I've wanted to post a blog and couldn't figure out *what* to write about. I guess I was just waiting for the good news!
Here's a song he posted on his blog the other day. Perhaps you've heard it before; I grew up singing it in church as did he:
Whatever It Takes
There’s a voice calling me, from an old rugged tree And it whispers draw closer to me Leave this world far behind, There are new heights to climb And a new place in Me you will find
For whatever it takes, to draw closer to You Lord That’s what I’d be wiling to do And whatever it takes, to be more like you That’s what I’d be willing to do
Take my houses and lands, Change my dreams and my plans. For I’m placing my whole life in Your hands. And if you call me someday, To a land far away, Lord, I’ll go and Your will obey.
For whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord, That’s what I’ll be willing to do. And whatever it takes for my will to break, That’s what I’ll be willing to do.
Take the dearest things to me, if that’s how it must be To draw me closer to Thee Let the disappointments come, lonely days without the sun If through sorrow more like You I’ll become.
For whatever it takes to draw closer to You, Lord, That’s what I’ll be willing to do. And whatever it takes for my will to break, That’s what I’ll be willing to do.
I’ll trade sunshine for rain, comfort for pain, that’s what I’d be willing to do. For whatever it takes to be more like you, That’s what I’d be willing to do.
Um, so if you want to hear a rough version of it, turn off the music player and click the video. It's me, rough chords because I don't have sheet music and had to play it by ear, a couple of big boo-boos, and distracting moving as I sing (can you promise not to WATCH the video and just listen? lol) and I can't promise that at 12:30 am I was completely "on" for the whole song. But, it's there. Gentle, dear readers :0) (there are more of you now than the last time I posted myself singing!)
Anyway, I'm so grateful for this miracle. No, his journey with cancer isn't over...not even close...but this chapter is coming to a close.
Most of the time we just chatted and loved each other. Until the dark period when there were tears each time we met. Times of betrayal, trust broken, healing, and restoration. And through it all, there was music.
Music, after all, had brought us together in the first place. Music brought us laughter and joy. Until music was painful because of the memories it evoked. And in the end, music brought closure.
This is one of the last times most of us were together. I'm so incredibly thankful to have captured some of it. Always my family. Always love.
If you're so inclined, turn off the music player there on your right and enjoy this poor quality video shot from my digital camera...maybe you'll sense some of the magic in this group.
Tonight in a beautiful time of worship, our student praise band introduced this song to us. It's a beautiful song out of Hillsong (Australia)...which isn't a surprise. I find myself loving nearly everything they put out. The lyrics are so REAL and true to life. Savior King
And now the weak say I have strength By the spirit of power that raised Christ from the dead And now the poor stand and confess That my portion is Him and I'm more than blessed
Let now our hearts burn with a flame A fire consuming all for your Son's holy name And with the heavens we declare You are our king
We love you Lord, we worship you You are our God, you alone are good
You asked your Son to carry this The heavy cross our weight of sin I love you Lord, I worship you Hope which was lost, now stands renewed I give my life to honor this The love of Christ, the savior king
Let now your church shine as the bride That you soar in your heart as you offered up your life Let now the lost be welcomed home By the saved and redeemed those adopted as your own
I give my life to honor this The love of Christ, the savior king
If you want to hear it, just scroll down on my page to the music player, pause it, and click "play" on this video. It's Hillsong's version :0)
I will lift up my eyes to the hill, from whence cometh my help...
So begins the words of on of my favorite Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir songs. And all day long it's been echoing --reverberating--through my mind. ALL of my help cometh from the Lord. Or so says the song. Do I *really* believe it to be true?
It's easy to look at a kind gesture from a friend or stranger as just that--a kind gesture borne from their capacity to love and have compassion. I was humbled this week by an acquaintance in my church choir who found out on Wednesday that I'd been without a job since August, and on Thursday brought a few items from her own pantry to the church for me. Yes, a very generous and most appreciated thing to do. But to give credit to Whom credit is due...I know it was the hand of God personified in a woman named Elaine.
I must remember that my help DOES come from above. That those kind hands, the encouraging words, the physical acts of help...all of that comes from my Lord.
I'm embeding a video of this song so that you too can be blessed by the message contained in the words. You'll have to scroll down and pause my music player first...sorry :0) To be honest, the images contained in the video are a bit distracting to me personally, but it was the best I could find.
The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night...He shall preserve thy soul...now and forevermore. May you live in the realization that your soul is preserved by Him.
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