Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Today has been crazy. We got a great start and headed into town to tour the historic district. It was a little disappointing, but we saw some beautiful older homes. It greatly improved our impression of life in this city!! We planned to do a little shopping and then let the girls swim all afternoon. (Our secret plan to wear their little bodies out so they would travel well!!) Grandmother called at lunch and told us she had told her nephew we would ALL be at their church at 5:30 to hear his daughter's choir concert. Now, I'm all about youth choirs, if you know me you now that I got my start in music ministry there, but this is a little different and we really don't want to go. But, we are going and I'm praying that my attitude will greatly improve. I can pack and do the things I planned to do this afternoon when we get back. Mom and I have bribed the girls with a DQ Blizzard when this thing is over. It's really going to be hard on them, but......... It's not about me!!!! My heart goes out to this young girl, she needs encouragement, and I was able to get her to speak at dinner last night so maybe that's why we are going. Maybe we can encourage her to hang on. Her name is Ann, if you get a chance say a prayer for her. Thank!!!

Well, well, well. What to say about this evening..... When we got in the car Mom said, "What was your favorite part of tonight?", my comment was "It's over?" And yes, I'm serious. I love all types of music classical, pop, you name it, I normally like it. This was sad. This church appeared to be a fairly large Methodist church. We learned when we got there that this was their spring concert for their 3year old -12th grade choirs.

The youngest choir was 3 years - 1st grade!! There were 6 children. The next was 2nd -5th and there were about 15, the 6th -12th grades had 25. These children looked bored out of their minds. I felt so bad for them. They are forced to wear robes and stand completely still. The oldest choir held their folders and buried their heads. The most "contemporary" thing they sang was "Word of God Speak". I love this worship song, but they watered down the rhythm. It's so sad, there are so many awesome things to do with children and youth these days, these kids are being taught the same songs my mother was taught!

To me, there is so much more than music wrong here. Our Pastor recently gave a startling statistic that the majority of college students raised in Christian, church-going families, choose to walk away from church and more importantly their faith the first chance they get. It breaks my heart to think out of those 25 teenagers most of them will leave church life after graduation. How can we continue to turn our heads to this. When will we understand that tradition does not equal holiness? Our Pastor has really been pushing the point home that we have to BE the church, it's a living thing not a building stuffed full of tradition!! Oh my, I could go on forever. I just looked at those kids tonight and felt so bad for them. I'm so thankful to have grown up in the church I did. One that gave us an avenue to express ourselves. And I'm even more thankful for the church we are in now!!

After tonight, I ache even more for Ann. She must really love music to sing in that choir, and I want so bad for her to experience Jesus in a real way. I wonder if she realizes that He is ALIVE and wants her to run to Him. I long for her to feel in the deepest part of her body that God loves her just the way she is. That she doesn't have to hide behind anything. She is a beautiful young woman. I know that several of my "sisters" are reading this and I'm asking you to lift this young lady up with me. How easily this could be one of our daughters. I'm going to get my "Your Girl" book by Vicki Courtney out when I get home!! (If you haven't read this book and have a daughter, get this book. It's an easy read and opens your eyes to many things.)

We pick Grandmother up at 8:00 a.m. and head to Abilene, Texas. If you've read all of this, you must be a pretty awesome friend. I love you!!!

Oh yea, my man would like you all to know that he was having Chicken Cordon Blue, a baked potato and Spiced Mango Tea for dinner. He would also be baking a Lemon Meringue pie for dessert. (He really is a great cook, now if I can just get him to do all that for me!!)