Praise

"Hallelujah! It's a good thing to sing praise to our God; praise is beautiful, praise is fitting..."
"Our Lord is great, with limiltess strength, we'll never comprehend what He knows and does..."
"Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn, play music on your instruments to God..."
"Those who fear God get God's attention; they can depend on His strength..."--excerpts from Psalm 147, The Message paraphrase

You can probably figure out by the sheer length of time between this post and the last one that things have been a bit crazy in my little part of the world, what with the extra hours of work and the filling in on oboe in the orchestra.

God has been faithful, of course, and a little over a week from now, things will begin to calm down. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is NOT an oncoming train! :)

When I'm not going through a particular Bible study, I often read through the Psalms each month. You read 5 a day corresponding to the date - so since today's the 27th, I would read 27, 57, 87, 117, and 147. Because Psalm 27 is a favorite (so I wanted to save it for last), I decided to go backwards today and start with 147...and look at all the super-duper applicable/timely verses I found! God is so good. Even when I don't have the brain power to do a complex study and I am just following a simple pattern, He provides the truths I need to hear. He's Sovereign like that!

I am very excited to share (with all 3 of you that read this!) that I will be on the same platform as one of my fave vocalists of all time - Sandi Patty! She will be at my church this Sunday for our committment Sunday...the day when we each lay our committment cards on the altar for our building campaign. Sandi is coming as a part of making the day special.

This will date me significantly, but around the time I was 11 or 12, I got a "boom box" for my birthday. My very first cassette tape was one of Sandi Patty's. (she was spelling it "Patti" then, as a piece of trivia...)

Anyhoo, I think I got or at least listened to most all of her albums since then and have read her 2 books, Broken on the Back Row and Life in the Blender. I obviously don't condone some of the choices she made that put into motion her divorce as well as the disintegration of another marriage. I do know, though, that I am in no place to judge her. Just because my sin is not as visible and may not affect as many people (and no doubt will never make the news) - my sin is just as grave as hers. Yes, as a Christian artist she did have higher standards placed on her. But after reading of her repentence and what the Lord taught her out of all those painful years, I can honestly say I respect her and am thrilled to be able to see her (perhaps even meet her!) this Sunday. She remains an amazing vocalist and seems (from what I've read online and in her books) to be very down to earth and sincere in her faith and trust in the Lord she sings to and about.

How thankful I am for the privilege of praising the same God as she does. Yes, I will likely not be a household name ever, nor will I be a recording artist or have one fraction of the talent and beauty she does...but that doesn't matter to our God. He desires praise from each and every one of us...no matter how insignificant or undesirable we may feel. He longs to hear from us.

That amazes me. I hope I never lose the wonder of God's grace in my life...and may I never cease to praise Him!