Just wanted to check in...

...and let y'all know I'm okay. I haven't fallen off the hill! (okay, it would probably help if I let y'all know we live on top of a hill and that was my attempt at a joke, har har) I know I haven't posted anything in a while, but what do you post when you don't really have anything new? I missed church Sunday morning and evening because of a bad stomach and I think it's kind of thrown me out of routine. I just don't like missing church. So I am seriously looking forward to tomorrow evening and choir practice. I love being in the choir. How can you not? It's an opportunity for me to get up there and sing to my King! I get to stand there and sing AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS praises to my Father! The ONE WHO SAVED ME! The One Who's comin' back for me someday! My God! My Lord! Sometimes I take that for granted. God gave me a gift, a love, a passion for praising Him. I absolutely L.O.V.E. doing it for Him. And what really burns my biscuits is to be up there, trying to give Him my best and to look down into the congregation and see complacency. You might as well be reading War and Peace (no offense to those who love that book. I've never read it personally, but it's a big book!) without showing any pictures. They look bored! Now, I realize and completely understand that people worship differently. Some people raise their hands in praise to Him. Some people close their eyes, some might sway back and forth, from one foot to the other, and some are very still and very quiet with their worship, they are very reverent. But to see people just stand there, sometimes having conversations, just like they've got something else better to do. WHERE IS THE RESPECT??! This is your Creator we're singing to! What gives? What's it going to take? Does everyone have to get to the very bottom of life before they see they've got something to be thankful for? Am I overreacting? I get very frustrated at what appears to be a lack of concern.

And I recently saw something on another blog; it was a quote by a Rev. Spurgeon, I believe, and it's got me thinking about some things. It goes like this: “The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them...providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church...the need is for Biblical doctrine, so understood and felt that it sets men aflame.” I can't help but think about myself. How many times have I gotten up there in front of the congregation to sing a song of my choosing, having chosen that song because it "suited" me. I do occasionally share a "special" song, and I try to make it a point to pick something that ties in with my own testimony, my own journey. I try to choose something that will convey something God has spoken to me about. But now I am wondering if that is what is received. I wonder if I'm trying to take that opportunity to do my own little "sermon" with some popular contemporary song that sounds good. That's part of the reason I've become more and more turned off by mainstream Christian music. So much glitter in it. Really nice clothes. Really perfect hair. Aesthetically pleasing, for sure. Easy to listen to. I know there are songs that have really spoken to me, so it's hard to make blanket statements. But when I see artists come out with yet another cd of hymns done "their way", it bothers me. I can't help but wonder, what are they really in it for? Who are they trying to glorify? Why do we need another cd of that? I sound like a party-pooper, but really, c'mon. Just something else for me to over-think, I guess.

I think I've done enough damage for today :)