A Great Day With My Church
I love my church. I love the Church.
I played Laden With Guilt (originally by Isaac Watts, revamped by Sandra McCracken) at the morning service. I really needed to have practiced more, which was audible (to me anyways), but the congregation got so much out of it. People came up to me and said that it an intimate time, and that's all the really matters. With some songs, at some times, it can be difficult to genuinely sing the song to God on a personal level, for that audience of one, but I not this time. The lyrics are just so true, I can't help but be met by Christ through them...
Laden with guilt and full of fear
I fly to You, my Lord
And not a glimpse of hope is found
But in Your written word
The volumes of my Father's grace
Does all my griefs assauge
Here I behold my Savior's face
In every page
This is the field where hidden lies
The pearl of price unknown
That merchant is divinely wise
Who makes the pearl his own
Here consecrated water flows
To quench my thirst of sin
Here the fair tree of knowledge grows
No danger dwells within
This is the Judge that ends the strife
Where wit and reason fail
My guide to everlasting life
Throughout this gloomy veil
Oh my Your councils, Mighty God
My roving feet command
Nor I forsake the happy road
That leads to Your right hand
Then, in the evening, we headed out to the Bartelts' house, where the youth of St. John do their weekly summer Frisbee thang. It rocked. My youth loved the other youth, the Frisbee, the pool. Joe Co did an awesome job with the devotional, talking about we need to be like Elijah, who, in his prayers to the Lord to bring fire upon his altar, made clear his motives...
1. To make it known that the Lord God is just that
2. To make it known that he was a servant of the Lord
3. To answer the will of God, with whom he had made himself well aquainted (here Joe emphasized Bible study as a means to invite God's will into our knowledge)
"O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command."
2 Kings 18:36
I must close with an exhortation I received from my youth, while driving them back to church, a quote that is a testament to my youths' spiritual discernment...
"Jake, there's a cop! Hit the cop! Hit the cop! Hit and run!"
The Peace of Christ To You, And Especially To Law Enforcers Everywhere,
Jake