Thanks!

What a day. What an opportunity. I live in a country where I can say pretty much what I want, pray and worship how I want to, have the friends I want… etc…

Not everybody does.

I have a job where I love what I do, love who I do it with, and most days can’t wait to get there and don’t want to leave.

Not everybody does.

I have a family that is filled with love and the best kind of chaos, and we’ll be having a big huge thanksgiving turkey dinner today after watching some football and relaxing in a great home.

Not everybody does.

I don’t know what I did to deserve this. But Thank You God!

Feels like heaven

So, yesterday I did something I almost never do, I went to church. I didn’t unlock the building for anybody, help set up anything, play, or even do announcements. My wife and I just showed up for the early Sunday service, and then when it was over we went home. I rarely get a day off… it’s weird… But it felt good to be in a room full of people loving and seeking God and loving each other and loving their neighbors.

Then last night we had our yearly volunteer appreciation dinner, and for our normal “musical” segment of the program, which is usually a silly song that the pastors sing together, we actually had all of us on-stage as a worship band, guitars, bass, drums, singing, the whole schmiel… We led worship for a short worship set and then played a silly parody version of “Put a little Love In Your Heart” that was so much fun.

What was cool was, that song’s new lyrics (written brilliantly by our own Senior Pastor) was about “being the church” and showing God’s love to the world. We were singing it to a room filled with people who are really great at showing God’s love, and the feeling of singing those worship songs with them and singing that appreciation song to them was overwhelming.

It felt like what heaven will be like, the family of God loving on each other.

Prayer for America.

There’s been a great prayer for America recently posted in a few different places. I’m going to send you here to read it on my friend Doug Jones’ blog, rather than repost it here.

Positive!

I woke up this morning in a country where the citizens had decided to change the regime in power… totally peacefully. There are no soldiers in the streets of my town, there are no riots, no gangs, nothing of that sort…

47 years and some ago, a man was born in a country where people his “color” couldn’t even vote in some places. Today he is the leader-elect of the most powerful nation in the world. He was elected by the people without regard, it seems, for the color of his skin. Martin Luther King dreamed of a time when a man would be judged by the content of his character, not the color of his skin. Yesterday’s election signaled, to me, that perhaps that time is suddenly upon us.

Now, some of you disagree with some or much of Obama’s politics. In all fairness, I also disagree with many of them. But for today, I ask can we put those differences aside, and can we celebrate how far we have come, and pray for wisdom for our president-elect as he begins the very important task of selecting advisors and preparing for his time to lead us?

Feel free to comment, but I’m actually not interested in hosting a political debate (so I’ll remove or edit comments as need be). There are some other great places on the web to do that. Today I just want to celebrate the fact that the United States, as a nation, apparently no longer cares what color your skin is… For that I rejoice!