Skip to main content

Where I Belong (Revival Time)

It wasn't exactly what I expected to hear as I stepped up into the sound booth Sunday night as Alvin, my church's lead pastor, sat in front of the computer, pulling up the verses he would be preaching from so I could throw them up on the screen as he did.
He wasn't even supposed to be preaching.
This was Revival Week (if I had been more with it, I would have been posting pictures all week with hashtags like #nlbcphx and #revival2014), and Rich, our former pastor, had come barreling out of the gates that morning with an incredible message straight out of one of my favorite chapters in the bible.
Ecclesiates 3, in case you were wondering.
Everyone was excited for what was to come.

But those five little words made everything clear for me.
Rose passed away this evening.

Rose - Rich's wife.
Phenomenal, amazing woman who loved the Lord, and could pull out a good zinger when she felt like it.
As I was preparing to leave for The World Race, her health was declining.
In the fall of 2009, just a few months before I left, Rich stepped down from ministry to take care of her.
In the last six years, she'd had three heart attacks and open heart surgery.
The woman was not doing well.

Monday night, Rich would tell us that he was almost ready to step out the door to preach Sunday night when the Lord told him to go check on her.
But this was Sunday night, and I had just a few minutes to digest what Alvin was telling me before everyone else knew.
Before the speculation started - about Rose, the fate of the revival, the fate of the galaxy.
Well, maybe not the fate of the galaxy (we kind of already known that).

How did it happen?
Is Rich going to be here the rest of the week?

Seeing as all of this had happened within the hour before service was scheduled to start, there were no answers.

I couldn't tell you what songs the worship team played that night (or any night, to be honest), in part because of the shock.
Also, though, because the kids' choir came in every service and killed it performing the song "Where I Belong."


Where I Belong Chorus - New Life Baptist Church Children's Choir - Phoenix, AZ from Catherine Pollock on Vimeo.

Did you watch that?
If not, then do it, because (as I told you) they killed it.

Sorry - that was a little bit of a rabbit trail.
Only a little bit, though, because that song set the tone for the entire week, as Rich impressed on the ever-growing crowd Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights.

All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

There are, quite honestly, a million different ways I could bring this post to a close.
There were also a million different ways I intended to start it (as I have been trying to figure out since Sunday night).
What I know... what I walked away from this year's Revival understanding, though, doesn't have a lot to do with what Rich (and Alvin) preached on.
It brought me back to that one thing (out of many) I learned when I was lying sick in a hospital bed in Ireland three and a half years ago.

Sharing the love of God is the most important thing there ever was, is, or will be.
Wherever you need to be to share that love, God will put you there -
Hospital beds instead of hotel conference rooms.
Broken down buses instead of well functioning cars.
Pulpits instead of living room couches.

It's not going to be easy, safe, or comfortable, but the God who put you there didn't set you up to fail.
He didn't ask you to do it on your own strength (because you'll fall flat on your face).
He just needed you to obey.

What I can tell you, from my own personal experience, is that the thing it's going to be is worth it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Metaphors: Candles

I've recently fallen in love with candles. Since coming home from the World Race , I've bought at least one a month. My favorite candles are the ones that come in glass jars - because when they burn out, I can clean the remaining wax out and put the jars to other uses. Right now,  that means they get cleaned out and packed away in anticipation of my move to Flagstaff. But as I was lighting one tonight (vanilla spice... Thanksgiving smells? Yes, please!), I saw a metaphor for writing flickering away in the flame licking at the wick and melting the wax. I suppose it could be a metaphor for life in general, but since the theme of this blog is writing... Well, you do the math.

[Five Minute Friday] Purpose

Fiber bars, strewn along the side of the road. There had to be at least a dozen of them, still in their wrappers and completely unopened. No box in sight. Really? That's about the reaction my younger sister and I had when we stumbled on them on our early morning run. Really? along with disgusted sighs about the wastefulness of it. These were the expensive ones, not a generic store brand that kind of tastes and kind of looks the same sometimes. So, when we weren't keeping an eye out for their box, we speculated about what had happened. And wondered how many more we were going to see before the end of our run. "Maybe they took one bite and thought they were gross," my sister said. "So they threw them out because they didn't want them anymore." I let out one of those disgusted sighs and nodded along with her theory. "Yeah, or they got in a huge fight, and threw them out in a fit of rage." "That's a possibility." And

How to Make Sure Your Book Review Request Does NOT Get Deleted

I've been hesitant to write this post. That is due, in large part, to how angry I get some days after reading book review requests. I curse, I rant, I snark. My cat will tell you it's not a pretty sight. But I also feel like this is a good opportunity to talk about what it is that makes me feel those feelings AND how to not stir them up. I'm not the only reviewer that gets frustrated when I see certain things in my emails from authors looking for a review. And I know I'm not the only one who gets triggered enough to ignore or delete those messages. I never feel good about doing it. It's just that I'm hitting the proverbial wall here and I want to hit it a little less often. So if you're an author looking for loving advice on how to approach reviewers (especially this one), read on. Review Requests I Always  Delete Before I get into what to do, I wanted to take a minute to look at what not to do (and how I handle it). Want to know what immedi