marvelous light…

last night, trent (keys), daniel (drums), & i traveled down to almost picayune, ms, where we met up with our new friend Tommy Brogan who heads up Jacob’s Well Ministries &
Right Direction Youth Ministries. obviously, this guy has a lot on his plate :).

as usual, we get semi-lost on the way down, deciding to follow the GPS instead of the map that was emailed. it took us in a longer way.. that ended in a dirt road… that pretty much gave us the ‘deliverance’ vibe- cue banjo music here. just as He always does, about a mile down the road from where trent was almost crying b/c of our lost status, there was the venue- pearl river baptist association.

we walked in, met tommy, set up, and did our usual run thru of ‘the anchor holds’ and ‘go rest high on that mountain’ on instruments that will NEVER be used in our set. now, i have to back up a minute and tell you that i was informed when i committed to this night that the crowd was always a toss up… how many, who, etc… that never really bother me or the guys, we just love getting to minister with people who are doing everything they can to make the Gospel know in its truest form: love.

we ended up getting to hang out with three youth groups and the women from Jacob’s Well Ministry. i’m gonna confess right now, God ministered to me more through those women, then i could ever have imagined. you can read more about them and what they do on their website linked above.

by song two, most of them were in it to win it… some were not.. and God chose to encourage those women and students through the music last night- i truly believe this. sometimes, i think worship can be convicting, it can reveal things in us we didn’t know were there, it can give us strength, it can heal our hearts… last night, it was encouraging and uplifting- to them and to us.

as someone who’s been doing this a long time, honestly, i get sick of certain songs; last night, God changed one particular song for me and made it new again- marvelous light. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAQJKZJB-kE]watching them sing ‘sin has lost it’s power’, and ‘my dead heart now is beating’, was sending chills through me knowing what some of those women had been struggling with. i just thank GOD that he chooses to be a God that is an encourager to us all, a comforter, our provider of a way out, our healer…. a God that delivers us out of the pit… i think i’m preaching to myself :).

i would just like to leave you today with one thing: no matter what is going on around you, what is God trying to show you about Himself today?  when you stop to look, in that stillness He will show you… and encourage.