hey friends. i am so excited to write to you today. i am feeling SO good. obviously i must feel good since i am awake writing at 9:30am on a Sunday. typically i would be far from awake already. why am i so good? well, i’ve had an incredible weekend. a great weekend with new and old friends… just being out and about… and then unexpectedly encountering the Sweet Presence of God in a new and refreshing way.

Friday night i went to my alma mater’s Mill Valley football game with Jennifer and even though it was a stinker of a game it was fun to see our students from past and present. you know you’re far removed from high school when you see no one from your own class at a small town football game like Mill Valley’s. we left at half-time and went to eat at TGI Friday’s. it was an out of the blue decision as we haven’t been there in forever! when we sat down pieces of straw wrapper began flying across our faces. i instantly thought, “ok so someone we know is here.” it was just about then that i stood up a little to look around and to be my pleasant surprise i see my friend and co-worker Jared with his lifegroup friends. so that was a fun little surprise. while at dinner Jennifer and I decided we wanted to see The Prestige. we went to see it with some other friends who answered our mass text message invite. :) the Prestige was one of the best movies i have seen. not just that, it also reignited my belief that people can still be creative in cinema.
saturday evening at the last minute i was presented with the opportunity to go to the Audio Adrenaline & MercyMe concert with my good friend Roxanne. check out her site…. she is an incredible photo-artst (weddings, seniors and family). anyway… i had never seen either of them in concert before and apparently it was AA’s farewell tour… so I got to see them before they break up forever. they were seriously great performers.

the highlight for me was surprisingly… MercyMe’s performance. i expected it to be ok since i like most of MM’s songs but i wasn’t expecting it to be a great concert. i hadn’t pegged them as great showmen. but they were. as a church staff member i am typically behind the scenes at church or worshipping at church can be distracting because i am always thinking of something else going on. honestly it has been a very long time since i have unabashedly worshipped God in song… overwhelmed in tearful worship in the presence of His Sweet Spirit. it was during a song called “Bring the Rain” – the words were powerful and spoke to me exactly where i am right now. you’ve been reading about my recent lack of contentment. well this song and of course GOD brought me to some more realizations about my life and where i’m at. the words are at the bottom of the post. i recommend you actually listen to it though.

that wasn’t even the best part for me. soon after my prayer and worship experience with the One and Only… He used me. during one of the next songs i noticed a woman behind me. she was probably close to my mom’s age (so 50 years old). she was weeping, sniffling, just crying out. it is actually unlike me to notice but i did last night. even more unlike me – i walked through my aisle, grabbed her and held her for the rest of the song. just completely out of my own character but completely Christ in me.

see? an incredible weekend, right?

as for today. just been a lazy sunday. well, minus the cupcakes and chroni-what?-cles of narnia. :)

Bring the Rain
MercyMe
i can count a million times
people asking me how i
can praise you with all that i’ve gone through
the question just amazes me
can circumstances possibly
change who i forever am in you
maybe since my life was changed
long before these rainy days
it’s never really ever crossed my mind
to turn my back on you, oh lord
my only shelter from the storm
but instead i draw closer through these times
so i pray

bring me joy, bring me peace
bring the chance to be free
bring me anything that brings you glory
and i know there’ll be days
when this life brings me pain
but if that’s what it takes to praise you
jesus, bring the rain

i am yours regardless of
the dark clouds that may loom above
because you are much greater than my pain
you who made a way for me
by suffering your destiny
so tell me what’s a little rain
so i pray

holy, holy, holy
is the lord god almighty