Seeing the Big Picture

I was at the Calvin Worship Symposium this past week and it was awesome. I think that everyone who is involved in a church in any way should go. I have lots to say about it, so I am going to try and focus on a few different things in my next few entries.

One of the things I came away with from this conference was a renewed sense for how universal the church is. I know that the body of Christ is worldwide, but when worshiping with people from all over the world, I couldn't help but be struck by it.

I also appreciated how the conference spanned the diversity of church styles in their worship services. There were two worship services every day and they ranged from very liturigcal with songs sung by a choir in Latin, to a gospel choir and preaching style, to a contempory service with a full praise band, to hymns sung with the organ. And no matter what style the worship service was, God's name was being praised passionately and that was wonderfully refreshing.

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A Perspective

I have already mentioned my "Word of the Day" screen saver that I have on my laptop that is hooked up to the projector in my room. I am learning that the words go in cycles a bit, so the same word will pop up in several classes during the day. Today's popular word was "entitlement." A fantastic word to share with teenagers who often think they are entitled to a whole lot of stuff. In fact, we as humans often think we are entitled to a whole lot of stuff when really we are fallen people who deserve nothing but death. We so often miss how wonderful and blessed our life really is and we get caught up on the little things. This video sort of puts that in perspective in a rather humorous way. I am by no means promoting this comedian, but if you take what he says to heart, it is so true. We live in an amazing world, created by an amazing God. We really should be happy with the blessing we have been given.

The Best Summer of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck

Twenty years ago, the summer of '77 was supposed to be the best summer of Summer Wilde's life. She and her best friends, Spring, Autumn, and Snow--the Four Seasons--had big plans. But those plans never had a chance. After a teenage prank gone awry, the Seasons found themselves on a bus to Tumbleweed, "Nowhere," Oklahoma, to spend eight weeks as camp counselors. All four of them arrived with hidden secrets and buried fears, and the events that unfolded in those two months forever altered their friendships, their lives, and their futures. Now, thirtysomething, Summer is at a crossroads. When her latest girl band leaves her in a motel outside Tulsa, she is forced to face the shadows of her past. Returning to the place where everything changed, she soon learns Tumbleweed is more than a town she never wanted to see again. It's a place for healing, for reconciling the past with the present, and for finally listening to love's voice. This was an enjoyable book to r...

Christmas Trip - Part 1 - Getting There

This picture sort of sums up our recent trip to Michigan for Christmas. Lots of time in the airport. Lots of time waiting. Lots of time in the car. But looking back, even though out travels out to Michigan didn't go as planned, we can see how God was working though it all to make it as good of an experience as possible for us. We actually made it to my parents house only 9 hours later than we were supposed too and considering the circumstances, that is pretty amazing in and of itself. We were supposed to leave for Michigan on Monday, December 23 from Halifax at 7:00am. We had planned to leave our house at around 1 in the morning and just drive it and get there by 5 to check in for our flight. We could not leave the day before because Wilbert was directing the church choir for the Candlelight service which was to take place that Sunday evening. Well all week leading up this, they had been predicting pretty awful weather for Sunday. Saturday we had rain and there was freezing rai...

The Talens' Tales

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