it does my heart good

Coming off a mission trip can be a weird experience. You spend a week serving closely alongside people and very focused on the Kingdom and doing things that would be considered overt ministry. Then you return and miss that experience and focus and closeness. You try and re-create the time you spent with your team, and while it can be close, it's not quite the same. You find yourself feeling out of place because you're on a spiritual high, so-to-speak, and the rest of the world is going along with life as usual. You don't feel like you fit in and you want to pull others alongside you to where you are. You fear getting back to life as usual...and then you do. The tasks and details of life come washing over you like the next wave and you start to swim in the ocean of normal life just like everyone else....getting pulled further and further away from the experience where it all starts to seem like a dream as you begin to swim into the current.
Yes, it's getting a little foggy now...I can look at pictures and smile or recall stories and experiences as that time becomes more of a memory. It does my heart good to recall and tell the stories of that week. To tell of God working through wood, strings, notes, paints, pencils and dance. What an amazing and creative God we serve.
Speaking of which, I wanted to share a bit from the creative arts academy.
3:30 pm...a bunch of excited elementary school kids come pouring into Hillside church to stretch and work out their creative muscles. The menu is a bit varied...dance, visual art, singing, playing instruments...enough to choose from where hopefully anyone can find an outlet for the week.
The setting for music...we're in the sanctuary at Hillside. Up front are 2 drum kits set up for 3 very eager players, and in the back are 3 guitarits, two bass players and 3 teachers crammed into a little room with only a thin "pull together, curtain-like partition" to block out the banging 3 aforementioned, eager drummers.
The song of the week is a new Chris Tomlin track called "Everlasting God"...so from vocals to strings, we're also hoping the kids are hearing the message of this song as they're learning how to play it. Like last year (and with any new guitar player), everyone had hurting fingers...but seriously, you go drive some metal wires into your fingers and tell me if you don't start hurting. It was interesting to see their intrigue with the callouses on our fingers as they wondered how long it would take to get them (a hard covering of skin on metal wires doesn't tend to hurt as much). All you can do is tell them to play through it (and actually press down harder to get the notes to sound!)...as you see the look in their eyes of "this is harder than I thought". Heh - how much is that our reaction to a lot of new things in life?
It's intriguing investing in kids...seeing them struggle with new things, but then flourish when they start to "get it". Seeing the light in their eyes as you encourage them and acknowledge their progress and even the smallest of accomplishments (ie-making a chord change on time). But also knowing that underneath the cheers you can provide, God is opening a door to their hearts if you're available and open to seeing it. The avenue to be able to talk to them about school, family or even a school dance...whatever may be on their heart. It makes it hard to leave after just a few days...you're just getting to the point where that's becoming more possible.
So after 4 hard days of learning 4 chords and how to transition between them (or at least coming close to it), we've got 3 guitar players and 2 bass players ready to strum/pluck out a song about our Everlasting God. Friday night is showtime where the full band comes together to show their stuff for their parents friends in a big concert. Everyone gets a chance to see what its like to play in a band by plugging in their guitar, bass and steping up to to a microphone.
It was amazing to see 12 kids play together on a rather challenging song after 4 days. They did such a wonderful job and we were so proud of them. You just knew God was singing and dancing over the praises that were being offered up to Him. And to see the smiles on their faces after seeing what they could do when they were challenged. All the kids that played, danced and showed off their art were so proud of what they did...and they had every right to be. When you start to believe in them, they start to believe in themselves too. Just imagine what they and any of us could do if we only realized and believed that about how God sees us and believes in us...His children.
...it does my heart good...and i am challenged to apply the lessons i learned as i swim though the normal current of life...