If you can talk, you can sing

So, today I went to chapel...it was a great service.

At the beginning of the service, we sang two songs. I had a couple come into the pew behind me and sit. They had what seemed like 12 children....I think it might have been 4. Anyhow, we started to sing, In Christ Alone.

The congregation begins to sing...what I heard next was absolutely breathtaking. One of the little boys behind me....he was maybe 3...he begins to sing. He knows the tune, but he only knows maybe 2 words in every verse. But it doesn't stop him from singing....he sings....he belts it out.....saying words that made no sense to me, sprinkled with a correct word here and one there....I had to close my eyes and listen.

There were so many things going through my head. First off, why is that we adults over-think everything....why are we not free to worship, really worship....belting it out with all our hearts as loud as we can with no regard to the person in front of us. Next, I listened to this little guy's mom....he sang just like her....she was belting it out, of course she knew all the words. This little guy has been in church with his mom, watching, listening and now following after her. She is teaching him how to worship. Last I wondered how this little guy's song sounded to God....was the Father closing His eyes, drinking in the pure worship of such a sweet soul. Then I wondered, what does my song sound like to my Father.

If you can talk, you can sing;
If you can walk, you can dance.

From Wilmore with love

So, it's the 4th of July and I'm in Wilmore.

How does Wilmore celebrate the 4th? It's too cute. Everyone goes downtown for the parade...which contains children on decorated bicycles, farmers on their tractors, some people riding horses and the lawnmower brigade. The lawnmower brigade is a group of about 20 Wilmore men pushing their lawnmowers in formation. It is the town favorite.

Then the whole town walks down to the campground for quarter hotdogs and chips.

This is the 4th in small town America.....so I bid you a happy 4th from Wilmore, with love.

Dominate, eh?

So, yesterday (July 1st) was Canada Day. What is "Canada Day?"

Well, here is what Wikipedia has to say....it is formerly Dominion Day. The definition of "dominion" is "supreme authority."

Let me just say this....this explains so much! Eh?

Porch time

So, what does "porch time" mean to you?

To me it means this, good friends...an air of trust and respect....an atmosphere of realness and vulnerability....listening, laughing, crying, eating, and laughing some more. It means being able to say anything....the good, the bad and the ugly....and knowing that it will be heard when needed and forgotten when needed.

It means being able to sit silently and watch the wonder of a beautiful sunset and bask in that glow....the glow of the sunset being equal to the glow of friendship.

The look of youth

So, today I went to the airport to pick up Becky from her mission trip to Peru. You know....not only has my youngest daughter lost her smell of youth, but she has also lost the look of youth. She is a young lady now....a beautiful young lady.

Yes, she is a fine young woman.

Kiss my...

So, I am trying to work through the qualities that make a leader versus the qualities that preclude one from being a leader, in essence....making one a non-leader. See, I do not happen to adhere to the notion that the opposite of a leader is a follower.

I believe a true leader sometimes follows....as a matter of fact, I believe that a true leader is a confident follower...a follower of a higher calling....a follower of the legacy that was laid before them. See I believe that in order to lead....they must follow One who exists outside of their own understanding.....they must also understand where they have been and where they are going and what foundation they are building on.

I have noticed that true leaders arise from the ranks. But I have noticed that within the ranks there are two types of people, those who line up in front of their leader and those who line up behind their leader. I believe that true leaders come from the line in the front, not the one behind. What do I mean by that?

Well, I believe that there are those people who will stand up in front of their leader and they will look them in the eye and will be willing to talk to them and challenge them when needed, but always with respect. And I believe that there are those people who will line up behind a leader and kiss their butts, never looking them in the eye...never challenging their ideas....just standing behind their leaders with their noses shoved so far up the leader's butt that you can't see where the leader stops and the butt-kisser ends. See, I do not believe those are followers....they are just sucked along with the leader like those sucker fish that attach to sharks and just feed off of them and go everywhere the shark goes. They are not followers...they are sucker fish. They are butt-kissers, and that is a non-leader.

I have also noticed that those people who like to get in the line behind someone are actually there for two reasons. First they find that they can kiss butts back there but they can also put a knife in that person's back. I find that those butt-kissers are also the same people who are the first to knife you in the back.

So, as I ponder this...I realize that I don't want to be in the line in the back and I don't want anyone lined up "behind" me (I couldn't resist that). I want to help those whom I oversee to stand in front of me and encourage those they lead to stand in front of them....that is how I want to live...up front, with my lips able to speak the truth and no knife in my hand (or back).

To be or to do

So, I am working through two words: being and doing. Both are 'ing' words, which denotes action or process....

Being means 'to be...the quality of having existence, or essence.'

Doing means 'to do....the act of performing or executing.'

These are very small words...be and do.....but they are powerful.

So, what defines me, my being or my doing? Why do I feel that unless I am doing....producing something....that I have no worth. Where does a person's worth come from?