Seeing Sunday

I woke from a brief nap a few minutes ago...I opened my eyes and wondered what I had missed.

I suppose I should explain.

With Gordon on vacation, we did church the old fashioned way today, with everyone playing a role. It was actually a nice change of pace and something I enjoyed watching unfold.

One of our newer members took to the pulpit (actually we don't have a pulpit, but figuratively that's what he did) and he did a great job.

Amy's pain has been more persistent and harder to control over the past few days, so I kept her home which left the job of leading music to one of our other members and she was also flawless.

Several additional members of the music team were out today as well, but another relatively new member stepped up to play the keyboard and she didn't miss a beat.

I got the job of coordinating various other "assignments" for our service. Luckily I had a plan, I got to church early and when someone walked through the door I said, "Hello...how have you been? Would you mind doing ____ during today's service?"

I thought it was a very fair way to distribute the duties and it actually worked out very well.

Of course no one may show up early for church ever again.

One of the most startling parts of the day for me actually occurred before church when I stepped out of the kitchen after putting out donuts and making coffee to see this wide eyed beautiful little girl sitting on the floor of the hallway seemingly alone.

I literally said, "Hi! Um who are you?" I did resist the impulse to ask her to lead us in the opening prayer...she's only 11 months old.

After a few very long seconds I realized those big blue eyes belonged to Maddie the daughter of our friends John and Lexie. John was about 4 feet away in the nursery, but he was out of my view.

I see Maddie all the time, and have actually mentioned her in this blog directly or indirectly several times including about 45 minutes after she was born.

For that brief moment today though she looked like an entirely different child.

It reminded me how quick some big moments can be, and how lucky I am to see them.

In a little while I'm meeting a friend of Gordon's who is driving down from Austin so he can spend a night or two in our education building in spiritual reflection.

He will also observe a side of our church not always visible to others.

That's why when I awoke from my nap I almost felt cheated.

There is so much out there to see....don't you see?

My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. - Psalm 119:148