CELEBRATE

"Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee, and out of Zion's hills salvation comes!"

Robin Mark's Days of Elijah is a song of celebration for our church, and for believers world-wide. Sunday morning was a time of celebration for me. During that worship time, we had the largest orchestra all 3 services that we've ever had on a Sunday morning. I had to pull in chairs for the 8:00 service!!!! It was awesome. Then, as we sang that song, I had the blessed privilege of sitting in front of Aiden J. Aiden is 7, and he doesn't just sing, he belts it. He praises God with his WHOLE self. Everyone should have the opportunity at some point in time to just sit in front of that sweet voice and join in their voice in lifting praise to Jesus.

That was the beginning to an entire day of celebration. Sometimes as Christians, we are so task oriented that once we complete one task, we are off to the next task. Today, I just want to bask in God's glory and CELEBRATE.

Sunday night, we had thousands on our campus for our first annual FirstFest. The sounds, smells and sights were amazing! Little kids in costumes laughing and playing filled the area. A sea of orange shirts from the over 500 volunteers covered the grounds. Hamburgers, coffee, bratwurst...the smell of good food was accompanied by the long lines of people anxious to get a taste! The sounds of praise filled the Levitt Pavilion as the Jeff Johnson band took the stage, and over 1500 worshiped. It was awesome!

Here were some of the stories from that night alone; five reasons among many others that I celebrate today:

1. I was monitoring one of the bounce houses, and a little girl yelled my name from across the grass. She was so excited to see me. I didn't remember ever seeing her before, but I knelt down to talk to her, and asked her to remind me of her name. She reminded me and told me that she comes to VBS every year with her cousins and that I was her music teacher at VBS. She was so excited to see me, and she wanted me to meet her Mom. Connection.

2. Again, I was standing next to a bounce house, and I recognized a name of a person. He was a brand new Christian. I had never met him before, but had seen his name, and knew that he and his wife had been visiting. I introduced myself. He was overwhelmed by all that was going on and how amazing it was. He told me how much this church meant to him and his family-- "I love this place!" Excitement.

3. I walked around to the games area. The sight was amazing. People of all ages were working together to hand out prizes and facilitate the games. I saw a woman in her 70s working with 3 teenagers that she probably had never met before that night. They were having so much fun together, interacting, and made it so much fun for the kids that came up to their booth. It was a glorious picture of the body of Christ. Community.

4. I talked to a young mother. This young mother recently started a blog of her faith journey. I had been reading it, and thanked her for sharing her faith--for being willing to step out there and risk telling her story. She said, "I just feel like everything in my life should be pointing people to Jesus." She wasn't just saying that because she was at church. She and her husband have made a transforming life change, and they are passionately and "on the edge" living out an authentic life in Christ, and willing for the whole world to see if it will in some way point someone to God! Authenticity.

5. One of our faithful teenagers was listening to the concert. A friend of his who became a Christian recently was listening to the music with him. That friend leaned over and thanked this young man for "saving his life". He told him that he was instrumental in leading him to Christ, and thanked him for being that person in his life who wasn't afraid to point him to Jesus. Transformation.

What an incredible glimpse of the Body of Christ. There are so many more stories of celebration. Young and aged, new believers and seasoned ones: God is at work in this place!

Thank You, Father, for all of the stories of celebration. Thank You for how You work in each person's life. Help us all to be transformed daily and live lives of authenticity that point people to You. Help us to connect with our neighbors and our friends and form lasting relationships that can only be attributed to You. Thank You for this community of believers. Thank You for giving us a day of true celebration! We owe it all to You!