Sunday 10 November 2013

Some Days...

Some days are like that, aren't they?

Even some weeks.  Months even...

Saturday there were 4 places I could have been:  Rhema had a prayer workshop; R.I had a workshop; There was a seminar on the island & Cait had a rehearsal.  As it turned out I didn't have a mainland car so Cait & I headed up to the brand new sports oval to watch a very ho~hum game of soccer.  It was stinking hot & unlike the cricket oval it doesn't get the sea breeze or have a well established stand of ficus to give deep, cool shade.  What it does have is a full size soccer pitch.  Wow.  That could take some getting used to.

About 11.30 we packed it in as a done deal & I headed off to the seminar.  This was hosted by the lady who runs the prayer session on the island that we attend & I was going more as a favour to her than because I wanted to attend the seminar.  It takes a fair bit to get me excited about these sorts of things & unfortunately for me one of the organisers can't seem to do anything  without *fellowshipping* first so there was a finger food luncheon which I planned to miss.  I nearly did.  They were nearly done when I rocked up.  What I hadn't planned on was they had set up cafe style so there was no slipping into a back seat quietly.  *sigh*  I eventually managed to find the only vacant chair in the room at the last table by the door & prepared to happily submerge into anonymity.  Perish the thought!  Besides a couple I know & like I found I was seated with the speaker!

It's not that I can't be charming & social.  It's just that it comes at a cost & I know it!  The less comfortable I am the higher the cost so I was rather horrified.  The speaker was Jan Campbell.  You can listen to her here.  She has this ministry.  And she & her husband ministered here, where her children are now senior pastors. I'd never heard of her so looked it all up & found myself no wiser.

Every church has its strengths ~ & its weaknesses.  Charismatics are extremely good at flowing in the spirit but often less good at knowing God's word as well as they should & so I exercise caution.  I love moving in the Spirit ~ but not at the expense of the Word.  What I hadn't twigged to is that Jan is best known for her prophetic prayer ministry.  Not something to faze me overmuch because in the ways of these things the prophetic words are usually for the pastors ~ & there were plenty of those around in the front rows so I was happily praying along & basking in the fallout from the anointing when I realised I was being addressed.  Ooops.  It had completely escaped my attention that I am no longer one of the hoi polloi.  Nothing earth shattering.  Just confirmation of things the Lord has already shared with me.  I need to get a grip on this whole pastoring thing.  Or something.

Then I rushed home to get Cait on a boat for her rehearsal & John & I headed off to a pot luck dinner being held for Jan, which had me fretting because the printer had run out of ink & the new ink had only just arrived which meant my sermon notes were exactly that: notes.  I can barely read my own writing at the best of times & my note~taking is impossible to follow because I have links all over the place as insights & extra information comes in & I can assure you, in its raw state no~one can follow my notes!  I have to pull order out of chaos on the computer where I can cut & paste & rearrange to my heart's content.  I never did get there. *sigh*

See Cait has managed to loose her bolero & while her black evening dress is perfectly modest with a high neckline it does leave her shoulders bare & her shoulders have to be covered.  We spent hours searching her room but the rotten thing was gone!  This meant that not only did I not get my notes typed up but that Cait was on an early boat for her concert here, so that she could stop & buy a bolero.  I was upset because I was going to miss her concert.  She was put out that I was going to miss her concert.  My mother was training down to attend said concert so I was also going to miss my mother & I felt ill~prepared to preach.  Being poorly prepared makes me grumpy.  As does being tired & out of sorts.

I chose badly for our opening song. Yikes.  I was obviously on a roll.  Honestly, I was flying on a wing & a prayer when I stood to speak.  The thing is though, the Lord knows what my week's been like.  He knows I had actually done all my reading.  I had my scripture & He just began pulling out of my brain what I actually knew!  I love how that works.

What I was speaking on was the priesthood of Melchizadek ~ gotta laugh.  Couldn't have been something easy & straightforward?  Nope, I had to have something that compared the Levitical priesthood & the new covenant priesthood, the temple & the upkeep of the temple & how what was done in Jerusalem reflected the Heavenly temple & how that is to be replicated in our lives because we are the living stones & the new temple.  Yadda, yadda.  I mean exciting stuff but not exactly simple & straightforward.  And anyone who thinks getting up & blathering on on a set subject for 40 minutes is child's play has obviously never tried it.

John closed beautifully in prayer & that flowed naturally into an extended period of silent worship.  I so needed that.  It refreshed my soul & having a worshipper with us who flows comfortably with that was an absolute blessing.

Meanwhile the back burner on my brain was thinking about Cait as AVAE is down to about 7 choristers which means any 4 part harmony has just 2 singers to a part...yeah.  Can be a little fraught making.  And she hates travelling home on her own when she is wired & really needs to talk herself down.

Apparently the concert was good despite both harpists pulling out, Cait looked lovely [according to my mother] & a good time was had by all.

Today is recovery day.  I think I need it.

1 comment:

  1. Amazing! I love Jan Campbell! I have known her and her husband for many years.. (her husband Peter has passed on now as you may know). Never a more wonderful man than Peter.. he had the ability to make you feel like pure royalty! I didn't know them very well because at that time we were all in the huge COC church in Mansfield - it was more a case of I knew them but they wouldn't know me (2000 people in that church at the time).. Leah and Skip were there at the time too.. It is Jan's daughter-in-law's father who led me to the Lord! On a bus out to Mt Isa, of all places! LOL. Now that is a testimony and a half how that all came about! God goes to all lengths to draw us to Him lol. My sister and her husband actually attend the Worship Center (where Leah and Skip are pastors and Jan now goes to as well). The Worship Center is Ps Clark Taylor's church plant (the one who started COC in his lounge room many moons ago).

    Anyway, all that to say, I love Jan's ministry.. what an encouraging uplifting lady.. I love her heart for God and for people. [I don't give that kind of praise out freely lol]

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