What Happened, Installment #1
We've been back for a week now, and I've been working on trying to slide back into normal life at work and home. Jet lag is over, and it's been nice to be able to slow down a bit this weekend and breathe.
I'm still processing a lot, so here's a bit of what happened/what I'm chewing on:
Our trip started with a call around 9:30 am on Friday 2/24 saying that our flight had been moved up so we could handle the delay and make our connection flight in Newark. I didn't get the message until around 10:00 (after I got off a hiking trail) saying I had to be at the airport @ 11:30 or I could lose my ticket. Thankfully my sister had stayed overnight, so we went into hyper-mode as I got the world's fastest shower and we worked together to get my bags the rest of the way packed. And we pulled into the airport @ 11:27...NUTS!
We got into Ballymena on Saturday morning (they're 6 hrs ahead of central time), so we had a bit of time to catch our breath and get settled at the house we were staying at. Then it was off to Hillside church for rehearsals for worship on Sunday. Right from the start the performance thing hit me as the Hillside team learned a song we had been asked to work on in a key that was uncomfortable for me to sing in, and I was being asked to lead. It was definitely F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E coming into play, and God was great to provide someone from their team to sing lead as I did background vocals. I started to realize that I could only be me...any expectations they may have for musicians coming from Nashville or pressures I put on myself for not being a professional musician were starting to alleviate as I relaxed and focused on worshipping.
Sundays are always busy days with Hillside. There are 2 services - one a more formal, communion service, and the other for families with praise band and speaker. This is followed in the evening with a very casual service that's somewhat similar to the family service. Sunday also exposed us to our first chances to get out and eat in homes. Aside from the yummy food we ate all week (all dinners were eaten in folks' homes), getting to know some of the people of Hillside was awesome. I love that tea after dinner (or in the afternoon, or whenever) is a way of life...it forces you to stop and talk rather than running on to the next thing. The people of Hillside taught me volumes about hospitality, opening up homes and hearts to total strangers and making us feel at ease and like friends.
More later...thanks for stopping by to read!
I'm still processing a lot, so here's a bit of what happened/what I'm chewing on:
Our trip started with a call around 9:30 am on Friday 2/24 saying that our flight had been moved up so we could handle the delay and make our connection flight in Newark. I didn't get the message until around 10:00 (after I got off a hiking trail) saying I had to be at the airport @ 11:30 or I could lose my ticket. Thankfully my sister had stayed overnight, so we went into hyper-mode as I got the world's fastest shower and we worked together to get my bags the rest of the way packed. And we pulled into the airport @ 11:27...NUTS!
We got into Ballymena on Saturday morning (they're 6 hrs ahead of central time), so we had a bit of time to catch our breath and get settled at the house we were staying at. Then it was off to Hillside church for rehearsals for worship on Sunday. Right from the start the performance thing hit me as the Hillside team learned a song we had been asked to work on in a key that was uncomfortable for me to sing in, and I was being asked to lead. It was definitely F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E coming into play, and God was great to provide someone from their team to sing lead as I did background vocals. I started to realize that I could only be me...any expectations they may have for musicians coming from Nashville or pressures I put on myself for not being a professional musician were starting to alleviate as I relaxed and focused on worshipping.
Sundays are always busy days with Hillside. There are 2 services - one a more formal, communion service, and the other for families with praise band and speaker. This is followed in the evening with a very casual service that's somewhat similar to the family service. Sunday also exposed us to our first chances to get out and eat in homes. Aside from the yummy food we ate all week (all dinners were eaten in folks' homes), getting to know some of the people of Hillside was awesome. I love that tea after dinner (or in the afternoon, or whenever) is a way of life...it forces you to stop and talk rather than running on to the next thing. The people of Hillside taught me volumes about hospitality, opening up homes and hearts to total strangers and making us feel at ease and like friends.
More later...thanks for stopping by to read!
posted by piper979 @ 6:02 PM
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