Too much to say

So...I hope you enjoyed that last blog!

Isn't God so cool to us??

(FYI...my friend's daughter is AT HOME and doing well. She has to stay still for the next few days but everything looks good...Praise the Lord.)

Now...this is really a continuation of my last blog...this was all on the same day. I didn't want to include all of this on that last blog because I just knew that you would give up reading because of the length....I probably would have.

After leaving Bible study on Tuesday, I headed straight for the courthouse. Kim, Sonya, and I had been given the honor of kicking off our National Day of Prayer festivities with a song. We sang one of our a capella favorites.

I can honestly say that I was excited about this event but I was emotionally unprepared for all that I experienced. My emotions were put into overdrive.

First of all, we have had more rain in the past few weeks than I can ever remember having this time of year. The days have just been dark, dreary, and overcast. This day, however, God pulled back the cloudy curtains and allowed the sunshine to pour down on His people. It was spectacular. (so much so that I got tan lines from my shirt simply from being outside)

The next thing that jarred my brain was the sight of a man in his army fatigues carrying a full size cross. He never spoke but carried the cross around the courthouse parking lot. Finally, he stopped on the edge of the courthouse lawn....knelt down....and held that cross into place. The simplicity of the scene was breath-taking. Just a man kneeling at the foot of this cross. People would stop...some would just stare, some were moved to tears, some would kneel down beside him and pray. My favorite scene was of a biker that came alongside and laid one hand on this man while holding the Word in the other hand.

Aside from singing with my girlfriends, (Kim and Sonya) I got to join in and sing with a choir made up of people from all the different churches in our county. It didn't matter...Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, or Primitive...our main goal was to lift high our voices and reach heaven with our praise. We got to sing three songs. Each song had profound effects on those singing and those listening and participating in worship.

We were also blessed to have approximately 100 pastors gather there as well. They stood down in front of the choir and their presence brought both humility and honor. They stood as servants of this community. They stood to intervene for the people. They also stood to say that they could do better...pray more...pray harder...

Lastly, we got to hear from one of my favorite preachers. He admonished the crowd to learn the discipline of prayer. So often we attach prayer to the end of whatever we are doing. In other countries where revivals are occurring...people will pray for hours BEFORE a service starts.

Would we be willing to do that?

I have never attended a church that taught or emphasized the power of prayer in that way.

He said a powerful statement that spoke volumes to me. I will leave you to ponder it too...

"When I pray, it takes me 30 minutes to get all of the religion out of me first. Then I can get real with God, cry out to Him, and quietly listen."