Sing Your Praise To the LORD!

Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things. 

 -Psalm 98

Yesterday afternoon I spent another half hour playing old youth group songs on my guitar.  I am sooooo out of "guitar shape." My fingers hurt so bad.  I have trouble remembering the old chord progressions.  But there is something so uplifting about playing and singing those songs.  The remind me what a loving God we serve.  They remind of great people and great moments from my past.  Even just sitting in our living room I found myself singing praise with a renewed gusto and passion.  I love that feeling. I love Jesus.

It has now been over five years since I stood in front of a congregation on a Sunday morning or a youth group on a Sunday afternoon.  There is so much I miss about student ministry;  I miss the relationships with the youth;  I miss the interactions with the youth counselors and the parents;  I miss the trips and the concerts and the programs.  But mostly  what I miss is leading worship with the youth.  I miss standing in front of a crowd with my guitar and leading them in singing praise to the Savior.  There is something magical about choosing a song, playing it, and having a group sing it. The picture at top is of me leading worship at the Kissimmee lakefront one of my very first Sundays there.  I love the picture and I treasure that memory.   When you are up front, the voices come at you like a wave.  You can actually feel the passion.  You look out into a sea of smiles, of raised hands and of prayerful faces.  The music is the medium; but what you feel is a connection to God and to one another.  So often (like yesterday) I remember those feelings, and I pray that God will use them to remind me of the blessings of my life, both then and now.

Of all the songs I have ever led, and all the places I have led them, nothing compares to leading Sing Alleluia with the youth of FUMC-K.  That simple little worship chorus, with the guys singing one part and the girls singing an echo, sounded like a symphony when they would sing it.  We sang a lot of great songs (Sanctuary, Prince of Peace, Lions, Radical Man. Where Justice Rolls Down and so many more) and sang a lot of them very well.  But Sing Alleluia was the song that always made it clear to everyone present that Jesus was with us "in that very room."  When I would quit playing the last time through and the acapela voices would fill the room, I had no doubt that the angels were singing with us.  So today, pause for a moment and remember to "sing alleluia to the Lord."  Lift high the name of Jesus.  And do not take for granted the blessings you have today and every day.

Because of Jesus,