Chuch Today

On Sunday mornings, all of us missionaries go to church in the city since we don't have our church service on campus until 4:30pm. (However the kids have Sunday School in the AM). There's one church that we feel we're obligated to attend every once in awhile because it helps support the Home. It's a nice church, but we prefer another church that's very warm, friendly, and casual.

As usual, the service started at 9am, but unlike usual, the lady (who sits up front beside a table with a projector that shows the words onto a screen) wasn't there. Nor was the table or screen in place like usual. I nudged Britney and said "Oh man...this is going to be a long service if we don't have words." You see, the singing/worship service is always one hour long, followed by the rest of the service which is 1.5 to 2 hr long. One of the main things we like about this church is the singing...but put yourself if our shoes. If you didn't have words to the songs....not to mention that they're in a different language...well, you've got the picture. So I spent the first 10 min or so thinking about going to ask someone why there were no words (and really meaning "and would you please go do something about it now?!) Then I decided that they were probably quite aware there were no words, and culturally, I may be out of place by asking such a question. And more than that, I told myself to "get over it!" Isn't worship more than just singing words? Well, once I got my head on straight and my heart attitude in the right direction, I had an exceptional time of worship. I took delight in watcing others as they sincerely worshipped the One true God. Their faces seemed to glow. I watched as people lifted their arms in sincere praise to God. I myself began to worship Him in the midst of the singing. It really was an incredible experience.

I don't know about you, but every once in awhile I find that the Holy presence of God Almighty is almost tangible and palpable. The air is almost electric. There's a special sense. It's hard to describe, but you know what I'm talking about if you've experienced it. And this was definatley one of those Sundays. Even though I didn't have a clue as to what the pastor (a guest speaker) was saying, he directed us to some really powerful verses in the Bible. Verses that seemed to really fit what I've been struggling with this week. It wasn't hard to fill the rest of the service with reading other scriptures here and there.

When the service was over, some lady I'd never seen before rushed over to Britney and started to talk to her quite intently. Next thing I knew, they moved outside to continue their conversation. When I passed by Britney, she seemed to be OK but consumed by this lady. When Britney met us at the car, she said, "You're not going to believe this!" She went on to explain that she and Bobby had briefly met this lady once before at church. Then today, she ran across Britney in the restroom at church (that actaully has toilot paper!), and asked Britney if she can talk to her after church about her need "for social hours" (whatever that means.) Bottom line is that she explained that she'd just begun her 4th year into college (about 30 years old) as an English major. She has to put in a certain number of hours teaching Spanish to English speakers. She wants to teach us for free...for 2 years! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT! Now tell me....AINT GOD GOOD?! She said she'd even like to translate for classes or meetings that we need. Goodness! So, Brit is going to call her this week, and then her school director is going to call Britney and tell her the details and see exactly what we'd be getting into. But man , to me this sound like God coming thru for us again! I guess what you don't know is that just yesterday, I called our tutor and told her that we're sorry we had not resumed our lessons. We have had some financial concerns that had kept, and continue to keep us from being able to put money toward tutoring. She was very understanding. And obviously, so is God.