The Doors Are Opening

I knew that when I made the decision this fall to apply for the MA of Church Music program at Trinity Lutheran Seminary that my life was going to change. I look at path that the Lord is leading me to with both excitement and trepidation. There will be doors opening that I never expected; likewise, there will be challenges and responsibilities ahead of me that I know that I will need His guidance to get me through. But what I did not expect was to see those doors beginning to open so soon!

I recently attended my company's sales meeting. At each meeting, a small group of Christians join together for an hour of worship and Bible Study. Last year I shared with the break out group I was in that I was unsure of the path that the Lord wanted for my personal ministry. That group offered a prayer for me. This year, I announced to the group how that prayer had been answered and received resounding support! Wherever I turned during the meeting, between discussions of how to sell baby formula, therapeutic nutritional products and improve company profitability, there were conversations of need and support as well as opportunities of outreach. It blew me away. I have never felt the Lord's presence in the workplace in the way I did last week. All glory and praises to Him!

So I anxiously await for my seminary classes to begin in a few weeks. I also learned a few hours ago that my position within the church may change (unofficial responsibilities to become official). We'll see later tonight. All I know is that all things are in God's hands. I am His willing servant. And I pray for His guidance in all things that lay ahead of me.

Been Silent Too Long

Sorry I have not made time to continue my posts. As those of you who deal with church music know, preparing for the Christmas season is all consuming. But I have to admit, it was well worth it for us this year. We stepped out on faith and offered our musical nativity two nights - to nearly full capacity! It was truly a worship opportunity for not only those who attended but also for all those who participated. I am blown away by the tremendous talent that resides within this church as well as by the willingness of this church family to help in any way they can. When you have less than a hundred members in a church, EVERYONE becomes involved.

And our youth - WOW! They sang, they danced, they signed, they portrayed the nativity scene, they did the lights....most having multiple roles in the program. I can't say enough of how impressed I am with their displays of faith.

Here is my prayer:

Lord, thank you for all the talent that you have led to this church. Thank you for being with us as we used that talent to worship you and to show our joy for the blessing you have bestowed upon us through the birth of your Son. Guide me in my church ministry to help in the development of this talent so that we might continue to grow closer to you in all that we do. Amen.

(And now it's time to prepare for Holy Week!)

Sitting in the Dark

I don't know what I was going to do if I had to go home and sit in the dark one more night following the roar of Hurricane Ike through central Ohio. It's awful having to do your hair and make-up in the restroom at work. But the house is standing and sustained no damage. The grocery store was bare of dairy items last night but it was full of all other items. Friends of mine waited in line for 45 minutes at McDonald's for dinner one night but they did not have to stand in line for hours just for a case of water. We had to throw some food out of our refrigerator but we did not lose everything of importance to us. Weather in Ohio has been moderate this week, not sweltering at 90+ degrees as it is in Texas and Louisiana. We had jobs to go to each day; many do not. And instead of my husband working on his computer in one room and me on mine in another, we actually had to sit in a room together and talk over the candelight.

There is value to sitting in the dark. It is may not be pleasant at the time but the end results can have a tremendous impact on our lives. We learn to come together and share as family, friends and community. We will have stories to share to the next generation. We learn to share and to empathize with others who are less fortunate.

There have been times in my life where I was sitting in a darkness that was overwhelming. But the Lord was always there, even at the darkest moments. And as I emerged from darkness into the light, I found strength - a strength that has never left me. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2: 9-10,

" 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (NIV)

For when we leave that darkness, we know that we are with God for it is only through Him that we can escape the darkness. And because he has guided us out of that darkness, it if for us to praise His holy name!

This is one of my favorite songs, Here We Are to Worship (Michael W. Smith).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP04GjifMPk

Our hearts and prayers go out to all those who are suffering from the hurricanes. May you find the hand of God as He leads you through this struggle. He IS with you.

It's Christmas time

Already? But it's only September! There aren't even decorations in the stores yet - it can't be time to think about Christmas time!!


Well, while all of you have been thinking about BBQs, picnics and preparing for back-to-school, I, like my fellow music directors, have been busy making plans for our Christmas program. I really want this year to be different. We are a small church, less than 100 people in attendance, but I feel that God is calling us to reach out to our church family and our community in a special way. I know that we can't compete with the Christmas spectaculars put on by the mega-churches in and around our community but there has to be a way that we can offer our friends a program that is warm, inviting and intimate - something that will make their Christmas season extra special.

We don't have professional singers hired specially for the program, camels/sheep/donkeys, or 30 piece orchestra...we are just a small choir singing to a sound track. But we do things that are very unique for a church of this size. We have liturgical dancers and a youth sign choir that add a very visual interpretation of the message in music. We have people with excellent speaking ability who can add warmth to narration. And I am counting on people within the congregation to help by sharing their God given gifts of hospitality, child care, creativity and organization to help with all the many other tasks that need to be done.

There is no charge for admission but my hope is that we can ask each person to bring a gift for the community, specifically items that can be provided to those in need through Westerville Area Resource Ministry.

Please pray for us as we engage in this program. May we be blessed individually, as a family, as a church and as a community. May this be one step in the process of becoming "the Lord's beacon on Oak Hill."

Amen!

Amazing Grace

This article is from The Columbus Dispatch on 8/22/2008. I found this to be of tremendous inspiration and encourage you to use it as a devotion for your family. I pray that this young man comes to realize what a witness his life is to the world. May we all reached out to young people as did the people of DeSales community. I thank the writer, Kristy Eckert, for bringing us this message and the editors of the The Columbus Dispatch for allowing it to be published.


Amazing grace
Sixteen-year-old Tyler Jones has dealt with more than his share of death.
For the St. Francis DeSales High School sophomore, faith and football
have been integral to his recovery. As a new high-school gridiron season
starts tonight, the healing continues.


Friday, August 22, 2008 3:17 AM
BY KRISTY ECKERT
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Tyler Jones was 12 years old when his mother's weakened
body could no longer bear chemotherapy.
For more than six years, he had watched as back and
brain cancer tormented her.
Now, with him holding one hand and his father the
other as she rested in bed at their Gahanna home, Tracy
Jones was ready to surrender.
"I was praying, praying, praying, praying for my mom
to get healed," Tyler recalled recently, "and she didn't."
Witnessing her last breath on that day in February
2005 rattled the boy's Christian faith, long nurtured by
his parents.
He was hardly pleased with God.
Show me who you are, he remembered insisting, or
I'm not going to believe in you.
That same evening, as he and his father took a walk
through the neighborhood, the sky boasted a brilliant
swath of purple and pink.


The sight proved comforting. Just maybe, Tyler
reasoned, God had taken his mother to a better place.
Seeing the colors as a heaven-sent gesture as well,
Larry Jones tried to reassure his son.
"Everything's going to be all right."


September 2007
Sports were often the talk of the Jones house, where
Larry Jones shared a passion for football with his son
while turning his daughter into a softball star.
On this particular evening, though, Tyler and his dad
sat in the kitchen discussing life.
In the 2 1/2 years since his mother's death, the boy had
blossomed into a mature teenager with a dry wit,
impeccable manners and an increasing devotion to God.
And, he'd found a special girl.
He was telling his dad how he thought he might
eventually marry Jessica Jivanjee. They were young, he
knew. Maybe, though, they'd someday attend West
Virginia University together, as his parents had.
When the conversation ended, Larry Jones stood and
walked into another room to make a phone call. Before
dialing, though, he turned back to his son with some
advice Tyler didn't quite understand.
"When the unexpected occurs, that's when you're going
to know if you're a man or a boy."


Sept. 28
A devoted fan of the West Virginia football team, Larry
Jones wasn't sure whether his undefeated Mountaineers
could pull off a win over South Florida on the final
weekend of September.
"I'm going to give you a prediction by Friday," he told
Tyler during the week. "Friday night."
When Friday arrived, he drove his son to school at St.
Francis DeSales on the North Side, hugging him before he got out of the car.
"Have a good day, Champ," he said. "I love you, Son."
Although raised a Baptist and attending a Lutheran church, Larry Jones had encouraged
his son to attend the Catholic school for its faith-based education and academic reputation.
Playing on the freshman team for a high school rich in football tradition, Tyler said, was a
bonus.
After classes that afternoon, as he and his teammates enjoyed an easy walk-through, Tyler

(missing text...)


"There's an officer here who wants to take you to the Gahanna Police Department,"
Garrick told him. "Your father has been in an accident."
The truth, though, proved worse.
At the police station, Tyler learned that Kelsie, his younger sister by a year, had returned
home from Gahanna Middle School West and found her father lying unconscious on the
floor.
At 50, Larry Jones, a safety engineer for Ohio State University, had suffered a heart
attack.
He was gone.
"No!" Tyler yelled, crying. "No! No!"
Knowing that Kelsie sat waiting in a nearby room, the officer told Tyler, "Now it's you.
You've got to be the rock."
He was 15 -- and without parents.
Why? he wondered. Why did this happen?
Instead of questioning God this time, he leaned on him.
And God, he said, seemed to reply: Your dad did everything he could to help you and
Kelsie. Now it's your turn to help yourselves.
With that, Tyler went to his sister, took her in his arms and promised:
"Everything's going to be all right."


Oct. 2
Tyler stood beside his father's open casket in a West Virginia funeral home, hugging,
shaking hands with and graciously accepting sympathy from people he hardly knew.
He was in Weirton, a steel-mill city 2 1/2 hours from Columbus where his parents grew up
and his three living grandparents still live.
Outside, his girlfriend was comforting his sister when a school bus rolled up Main Street.
The doors opened and out poured the freshman football players, cheerleaders, coaches and
others from DeSales.
Dressed in their purple-and-white jerseys, the players worked their way into the
visitation, circled Tyler and prayed.
Some patted his back or embraced him. Several sobbed.
The sight moved Garrick, who organized the trip.
"There was just a tremendous bonding," the principal recalled. "In my 20 years of
education, I've experienced children losing a parent. But I've never experienced a child
losing both parents in such a short period of time."
John Rothwell, a freshman coach, teared up when Tyler used the moment not to focus on
himself but to pump up his teammates.
"He's such a great kid," Rothwell said. "We were getting ready to play Watterson, and he
told everyone he wanted them to think about the game and beat Watterson."


Until that day, Tyler, who'd attended middle school in the Gahanna district, wasn't
completely comfortable at his new school.
But at that moment, his feelings changed.
"When they all came, I knew that's where I belonged," he recalled. "DeSales is a family to
me."


Mid-October
As word spread that Tyler and his sister had no relatives in Columbus, the DeSales
community responded en masse.
Some raised money, sent gift cards and provided rides to and from school and football
practices. Others offered to become foster parents.
Tyler and Kelsie, however, wanted to stay in their home.
For two weeks at a time, the children's paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother
took turns commuting from Weirton to Gahanna to stay with the kids.
Brandie and Jamal Jivanjee, the parents of Tyler's girlfriend, gladly ferried him as needed
and, through prayer, provided emotional support.
"We were devastated," Mrs. Jivanjee said, "because we knew they were still grieving for
their mom."
Some days, Tyler admitted, he didn't want to get out of bed.
Longtime friend Jamel Morris sensed his buddy's depression but said Tyler rarely showed
his pain.
"He still acted like himself," said Jamel, 15. "Tyler is a good friend. If you want to talk to
somebody, you can talk to him. If you want to depend on somebody, he's dependable."
Tyler, meanwhile, found comfort in his new school.
"I think Tyler's doing fine, and I would give a lot of that credit to St. Francis DeSales," said
Janet Jones, Larry's mother, who recently began caring for her grandchildren full time.
At 74 and with a husband fighting Parkinson's disease, she finds the new role challenging
-- all while she still mourns the loss of her only child.
Yet she, too, believes that God has a plan.
"You have to have faith."
Tyler's spirituality, Garrick said, has been a lesson for all of DeSales.
"He's been a great example of dealing with adversity with grace. His faith is just so refined
for a person of his age."


Early January
The players in blue and gold were running all over the highly favored opponent from
Oklahoma.
The roar of West Virginia fans stretched from the packed Fiesta Bowl in Arizona to the
hills and hollows of the Mountain State to the Gahanna basement where a teenager sat
alone, hollering for the team he and his father loved to cheer together.


Tyler grew up in a sea of scarlet and gray, engulfed by Buckeyes, but his loyalty hasn't
wavered from the school where his parents fell in love.
By the end of the bowl game on Jan. 2, the Mountaineers had won big.
A text message from a friend of his father's trumpeted the victory as West Virginia's
greatest ever.
Tyler had but one thought.
I just wish my dad could have seen that.


June
With his second season of DeSales football set to begin June 9, Tyler arrived before 8 a.m.
for the first conditioning session.
From giant photographs on the weight-room walls, previous state champions peered at
the newest crop of players as the guys strained and sweated and grunted their way through
lifting.
Later, outside, they lunged, skipped, jumped and sprinted, gulping down water and
stripping off soaked shirts.
"The only way to get in shape," varsity head coach Ryan Wiggins hollered, "is to bust right
through it."
Shortly before 10, the players were asked to run one final lap.
As the first wave of runners closed in on the finish line, the vomiting began -- on the track,
the grass, the concrete.
Tyler missed his goal time by about five seconds but kept down his breakfast.
Drained, he left practice wishing he could talk to his dad.
The two had made a habit of discussing drills and plays and how things work in football --
and he longed for those conversations.
"Obviously, the kid's got a lot of heart and determination, and obviously, a strong
personality," Wiggins said. "We tell our players: You point to your heart, and you point to
your head. If you've got it there and you've got it here, you've got a place in this football
program.
"And he has both."
Although not expected to start when the junior varsity opens its season Saturday, Tyler, a
wide receiver and cornerback, has a tremendous work ethic, the coach said.
With his father gone from the stands, Tyler feels a sizable void. Still, he says, football gives
him solace.
"In the game, I feel more at peace with myself -- (rather) than being in the real world and
worrying about my situation."


July 10
With the summer sun beaming in a bright-blue sky, Tyler wandered awkwardly through a
maze of tombstones, scanning the names.
Not having visited Chestnut Ridge Cemetery since his father's funeral in Weirton, he (missing text...)


He eventually saw the granite slab marking the site, headed toward the stone -- his
father's had yet to be placed -- and squatted.
TRACY M. JONES
He smoothed away a piece of grass just above the "C." Then, with a nail, he worked to
clean dirt caked in the carved-out letter, scraping, scraping, scraping.
A few minutes later, he stood, wandered away, then returned.
Squatting again, he put his fingers to his mouth, puckered his lips, then gently tapped his
hand on his mother's name -- giving her the only kind of kiss he could.
Riding home, Tyler smiled.
"I know they're looking down on me."


August
Tethered by their hands instead of their cell phones, Tyler and Jessica -- together since
the eighth grade at Gahanna West -- strolled into the Crosswoods theater on a Sunday
morning.
In one of the small theaters, Cornerstone Community Church holds a weekly
nondenominational service -- gatherings Tyler relishes.
Someday, he imagines, he might be the person addressing the congregation.
Until then, though, he was content that day to settle into a cushy seat next to the girl he
adores and her parents.
Earlier in the week, at the request of Jessica's father, Tyler had spoken to sixth-graders
attending a vacation Bible school in Gahanna. He talked about his parents' deaths, the
importance of faith and his "best friend" relationship with God.
The children clung to every word.
"I think he's going to change the world," Mr. Jivanjee said. "Everybody who comes into
contact with Tyler will have to face their life."
Tyler's sister, who this week started her freshman year at DeSales, appreciates the role
model she has in her brother.
A reluctant driver, Tyler has promised that if she plays softball in the spring, he'll work to
get his license so he can drive her to practices.
Kelsie also admires his spiritual resilience.
"His faith, it's good," she said. "I feel like I need someone like that to help me through
things."
Next month, Tyler's girlfriend and her family will move to Nashville, Tenn., where her
father will work for a new church ministry.
Tyler refuses to let the prospect of another loss demoralize him. God, he believes, is
shaping him.
"People like me have got to have that ... that 'it' factor -- that 'I'm going to make it no
matter what.' "
Some days, Tyler makes it by sweating in pads and helmet, on a grassy, worry-free oasis.
Other times, he makes it while standing in a church service, singing softly to the
strumming of an acoustic guitar.
And like a flood, His mercy reigns. Unending love, amazing grace.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFxArMeRDI&feature=related


The past year has brought clarity to the words his father spoke only days before he died:
Unexpected events, Tyler now understands, are what shape a person's soul.
At 16, he doesn't think he's anywhere close to being a man.
But Tyler Jones certainly doesn't feel like a boy.

When Answers Aren't Enough

Are you being faced with a new challenge today? Just when we think we have overcome one hurdle in our life, another this thrown at us. Why God? We know that God is with us; He WILL comfort us in our sufferings. And there will be an end to our suffering.

The verse below from 2 Corinthians also sheds some light - that our sufferings may also be used to comfort others who may not know the Lord. By being able to empathize with others, we can share our sufferings, establish a bond to another person, and provide a witness as to what the love of Jesus Christ can do. What the love of Jesus has done in our life.

2 Corinthians 1:4-6 (New International Version)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

Here is a song that I played during the prelude music today. It was new to me but the words are ones of comfort. May they offer you comfort today, too. And for those that prefer to hear it, here is a YouTube version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykS74UTb1AI

When Answers Aren't Enough by Scott Wesley Brown

You have faced the mountains of desperation
You have climbed, you have fought, you have won
But this valley that lies coldly before you
Casts a shadow you cannot overcome.

And just when you thought you had it all together
You knew every verse to get you through
But this time the sorrow broke more than just your heart
And reciting all those verses just won't do.

Chorus:
When answers aren't enough, there is Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren't enough, He is there.

Instead of asking why did it happen
Think of where it can lead you from here
And as your pain is slowly easing, you can find a greater reason
To live your life triumphant through the tears.

Sorry I've been silent

I didn't realize I haven't made a post for a month - boy how time flies! I have been busy focusing on the service I conducted yesterday. For those of you who attended, I welcome your comments. For those of you who were not able to attend, I will be posting it to this site - once I get my file sharing site to work again. I particularly want to thank Bob R, Denise, Bob M and Troy for all your help! Bob R and Denise, thank you for your willingness to participate despite your pain and discomfort!

There is a correction that needs to be made in my message. My comments regarding John Kerry were meant to be John Edwards. Don't know where that one came from!

But I do know that I could not have done this service without direction and support from God. I struggled with the context of this message but somehow the words and the music all fit together. But I do hope for more prep time if I do this again. There was much more I wanted to do but was not able to do because I ran out of time.

Thanks to all of you that prayed for me through this process.