Hands held high

After service my wife stayed to help with the baptisms and I got to take the kids to lunch and hang out with them. As we began to drive off I turned on the CD player which happened to have a worship CD we had been listening to. My daughter asked me to put on the song she really enjoys, so I did, and I asked her to sing for her brothers and I. I sang a few bars with her then came to a stop light and tilted the rear view mirror down to get a glimpse of her singing. Much to my surprise my daughter had her hands held high, head tilted upward and eyes closed as she was singing the song aloud....I was surprised and very proud. Interesting thing is my wife and I have never showed or taught her how to do that, she just did it on her own.

It was explained to me that hands raised during worship is a sign of surrender to our Lord. It was awesome to see my little 2 year old girl surrendering to the Lord in her car seat as we drove to get Lunch. She kept her hands up the entire song....

Church is NOT a routine!

Recently after a service at our church, my wife and I were discussing how GREAT and REFRESHING it was to be able to listen to the message, learn, and have an opportunity to stay engaged with God.

I remember not so long ago prior to being saved and attending my new church, I felt like my previous experience in church was a routine. My wife and I would come in, follow the protocol, kneel, stand, kneel, stand. We knew what to say and when to stay it without really listening to the message. We knew when the tithing basket came around, when communion was, which was the 45 mins mark (15 mins left!! woohoo) and shortly after was the closing prayer which meant we were almost done.

I don't feel like that anymore, but I think its important to note there was something missing in our life. Church was the same week in and week out, and we didn't have the vigor and energy we have now. We actually stopped going to church for a LONG period of time (6 years). In hindsight we were contributing to making it routine and putting up a front with everyone including ourselves in which case the sad part of it all is we were not allowing ourselves to be guided and healed through GOD.

Each church is different, so seek a good church with a good simple mission who are welcoming, caring, and involved with their members. The interesting thing is, we felt GOD led us to our church and we didn't have to look very far!