it's beginning to look a lot like...

It's Christmastime!! I LOVE Christmastime. I started listening to Christmas music back in September--mostly for research, but partly for pleasure. That's a little different for me, since I usually resist the introduction of anything Christmas-related before mid-November. This year is a little different, though. Not sure why, but I have just been very excited about Christmas coming...maybe it's because it's my first one as a married woman. Regardless, the hope that Christmas represents is one of the greatest gifts we have on earth, and that is something to celebrate no matter what the month. *cue piano music*

We decided to do things a little differently as far as church decor this year, which means that we basically built everything from scratch. I thought the results were pretty fantastic, so I decided it was blog-worthy and have included some instructions if you're of the Pinterest-persuasion.

This is our "North-pole"-inspired sign that was built from scratch by a carpenter here at the church. It's made entirely of old barn wood! We painted it white, glued red ribbon all the way up (Mod-Podge is a wonderful thing), and added the signs and snow later. If you look closely at the signs, they have been painted for an antique effect, which is actually very easy to do! See below for the instructions. 

We added Christmas-related words, like "Rejoice," "Emmanuel," "O Come All Ye Faithful," etc. to guide people into the worship center and children's hallways.

We took our very tired wreaths from Christmases past and revived them with some inexpensive red decorations and ribbon. It worked wonders!

And these...these are our masterpieces: homemade winter trees. We cut down some tree branches from the woods nearby, sponge-painted them with primer, and mounted them to the stage. I. LOVE. THEM.

And here are just a few more antiqued signs, hand-painted by the masterful Jeanne (of Jeanne Mitchum Photography--she does everything well). These are hanging in the back of the auditorium, tying the tech booth into the scheme of the whole room. 

To antique a piece of wood, 1) choose your base color. This will show through your top coat when the product is finished. 2) When the base color has dried, apply a layer of school glue to the whole piece. 3) Before the glue has dried (not wet but still tacky), apply your top color. As the glue and paint dry together, the paint will crack, revealing the base color and giving the piece that antique look!  

And when I say, "we," in this post, I really mean the geniuses below: John and Jeanne. John is the master of crafty, and Jeanne is just plain awesome with a paint brush. (There she is, throwing fake snow on the top left. Very serious business, this.)

Weeks like this make me love my job even more. We hope we have created a home-like atmosphere for the people attending our church this Christmas season. At any rate, we had fun.

So how do YOU decorate for Christmas?

for the birds.

I'm a bird nerd.

I'm drawn to things with birds on them--artwork, jewelry, etc. Birds were a theme at my wedding. It almost got to this point with me:



But it's not just because they've become very cool in our culture lately. I've become more interested in them over the past several years, especially after seeing the birds of paradise segment in "Planet Earth." I think they are one of the most fascinating species of animal that God created. I'm even at the point where I think I might enjoy bird-watching...but we'll see.

I saw one today during one of the parking-lot-walks that I often take during the day (sitting at a computer all day is the killer of creativity...and physical comfort). This little guy was sitting on top of a telephone pole, chirping at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. I couldn't help but stop and listen to him, admiring the freedom and downright gusto with which he sang his song.

Each bird has its own song, you know. Its song is different from every other bird's song, and it's specific to breed and gender. And no bird seems afraid to sing.

I then think of the people around me. Each person has his or her own song to sing. It's different from any other person's song, and it is given them to benefit and beautify the world around them. And I do mean everyone: the cashier at Target, the guy driving like a crazy person on the interstate, the elderly woman with Alzheimer's at the assisted living facility...the person you don't like so much, the person you love...even you. Sometimes the beauty of the melody is muted by our hang-ups, but when we are finally freed up to truly sing our song, the world is changed for the better.

What's your song? What experiences do you have that need to be sung? What personality did God give you that is meant to be contributed to the chorus?

Furthermore, who can you teach to sing? Who can you harmonize with? And whose song do you need to listen to?

painful tuesday.

Difficult week so far, this week. A friend and coworker passed away unexpectedly, a highly respected pastor left his post for less-than-happy reasons, and multiple marriages are falling apart at the seams--and it's only a day and a half into the week. Oh, and then there's all that mess going on in the Middle East...

Lord, we need Your help.

Perhaps you're going through your own season of chaos as well. Maybe you're like me, when the weight of all that's going on in the world leaves your head spinning and your heart gasping for air. I don't have anything to offer you--except the truth of Who God is. And so I offer these songs of worship...may they remind you of Him and draw you to His side, even when you don't understand.

Every blessing of peace to you.

there's joy in the village

One of the highlights of my week these days is singing with the residents at our local assisted living facility. Sometimes the routine of it can feel like drudgery, but once I get in there and start singing with them, I am always grateful that I came. Music has that kind of power...especially the old hymns.

Serving the forgotten generation brings such joy. I wish you could see them, waking out of their fog to music that they've known for decades. I wish you could hear Miss Vivian crow like a rooster when we sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." I wish you could experience the atmosphere shift in the room when the critically ill, Alzheimer's and dementia patients forget their anxieties for a moment and truly enjoy the music. I wish you could hear the grumpy ones speak up suddenly and teach me an old song I've never heard before, and then hear the rest of the group chime in to sing along.

I wish you could feel what I feel, when I look out on these precious people and realize that, though their days seem bleak right now, Jesus' heart burns for them just as much as it does for me. He longs to comfort them and to bring them joy.

Some days, He uses me to help do that. And I'm so grateful.

By the way, I asked Miss Vivian to be my grandma. She said yes. :)

Who is the forgotten generation in your life? Have you considered how you might reach out to them with the love of Jesus?

ashes into beauty.

Yesterday, as I was reading the daily devotional in Jesus Calling, I came across Isaiah 61:3, where it talks about God's power to give us a crown of beauty instead of ashes. I started pondering all the ways He's turned ashes into beauty in my life...

He took a season of deep heartbreak and turned it into hope, healing, and an appreciation of the good and perfect, so that I was no longer tempted by the lesser-than.

He took an occasion of great humiliation and turned it into deep-seeded humility.

He took a tragic circumstance and brought healing, wholeness, and great blessing to my family through it.

Truthfully, some piles of ashes are still waiting to be turned into something glorious...but I know it will happen. God is always faithful.

What about you? What broken thing has God made beautiful in your life? What is the pile of ashes that you're currently waiting for Him to change? Be encouraged--He will never fail you.

Blessings on your weekend!
-S

Worship Wednesday 8-22

Hi! Happy Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by. I honestly have no idea who reads this thing (or if anyone reads it [besides my parents, of course--thanks Mom and Dad!]), but whoever you are, I hope you will take a minute today and focus on Him...or, if you don't know God, maybe you'll stop and think, "Who is this God and why does this girl think He's so great?" And maybe you'll go find out. Anyway...

Today, I want to feature a song that speaks deeply to my heart. It's written by my friend Gil Gatch, who not only is an excellent song writer, but a phenomenal person as well. Gil has been through some incredibly dark seasons in his life, during one of which I had the privilege of walking alongside him. (I say "privilege" because it really is an honor to be able to help support a friend through hard seasons.) I watched as he suffered tremendous heartbreak, confusion, and betrayal...and, amazingly, he chose to worship in response to all of it. The songs he wrote in that season have comforted so many people, and this is one of them.

(By the way, Gil is no longer in that dark season. No, those days are long gone, and he has emerged as a complete victor--in the best and godliest sense of the word.)

I don't have a video of the song, but what I'd like to do is ask you to go purchase it on iTunes. Seriously. It's more than worth the $.99. No, Gil did not ask me to plug his song or church's album. I'm just telling you that this song is incredible, and you will be blessed. Look up "I Won't Move" by Freedom House Church from the "Count You Everything" album, and let me know what you think. Maybe one day I'll get Gil to do a Q&A on the story of this song... :)

Be encouraged today. In every season, God is worthy of our worship.

worship "wednesday" 8-9-12

Today, Thursday is Wednesday. :)

I've been slack about posting lately...why? Because sometimes I have trouble finding a song to sing...or time to sit and be still...or really, the mental capacity to turn OFF my brain, especially as it regards worship music. As a worship leader and music arranger, it's very hard to take the work out of worship. It doesn't matter what song it is--I'm probably considering whether or not the lyrics and chords flow well, how (and if) we would do the song at our church, what key I might do it in, how it would go over, etc. I can be sitting in a worship service, truly engaged, and I hear one mistake from a band member and think, "Uh-oh," and snap right back into music-director mode.

I'm also rather skilled at mental multi-tasking--meaning, I can be actually leading a song, singing all the words, and simultaneously be taking mental notes on 5 different things we need to fix in the arrangement for the next service. It's a little bizarre. It definitely helps me to do my job, but it doesn't help when I'm trying to unplug and worship.

So, for me to have a legit musical worship time on my own is tough! I tend to lean more on journaling with Him as an expression of worship than anything else, but even then, I tend to focus on challenges in my life rather than His greatness. Those conversations are precious, and He downloads so much wisdom and truth to me, but I really do need to spend more time just loving on Him. I'm convicted even as I type...

In these worship posts, I really have been trying to just pick songs that seem to express what I'm experiencing of God through my quiet times, rather than what I'm really worshiping to on my own. There are some songs that really get to me, though, and even if I can't pay attention the entire song, at least I can for about 80% until my work brain kicks in. :) This is one of those...I sat and played this yesterday by myself, just because of how honestly it expresses my heart toward Him. And it's in 6/8, and for some reason, 6/8 songs transcend me to the secret place. Maybe it's the dancing feel about it...God keeps reminding me to dance with Him these days.

So I will sit, and try to be still, and focus on Him for at least 80% of the song... :) Blessings to you.

after the war.

I feel like we’ve just come through a war. Millions of bullets were fired, and casualties ensued. Friendships were broken, good opinions were thoroughly decimated, and confusion reigned as king.

But now that Hurricane Chik-Fil-A has subsided, I can look back and see at least one good thing that came out of the storm. I’m still processing through it, but I know that, at least a little, I have been changed for better.

In reading many different articles and opinions of friends as they sounded off about the whole debate, I have been forced to consider my own stance and ask myself some questions that I hadn’t considered. Namely, what would Jesus have done here? I can envision Him walking into a Chik-Fil-A on any given day last week, and the whole place going silent—protestors and assenters alike. I think He would have looked each person in the eye and examined their hearts, and they probably would have left the building. He may have ordered a sandwich, but only if He were hungry…

I envision a roomful of equal sinners, dropping their stones.

Then I considered what God says about our “right” to freedom of speech, and whether He thinks we should work so hard to defend it.

I know that freedom of speech is actually written into the Constitution of our country, but really, freedom of speech is a God-given right for all men. If He gave us free wills and voices, then apparently we’re supposed to use them.

Think of Paul and Peter. They spoke freely about the Gospel, though the government (legal and religious) opposed them. Then they were arrested and beaten. Then told to never speak openly of Jesus again. Then they went right back out to the courtyard and started preaching again. They didn’t wait for someone to give them free speech—they just spoke freely.

I’m not aware of them leading any kind of boycotts, or rushing to support a local scarf-maker for his views on the Torah. They just preached, like they were called to, and loved the people in their spheres of influence.

They also didn’t use their free speech to bash the government, but rather to just speak Truth. Gospel Truth, essential Truth, life-saving Truth. And they were beaten and arrested again. And released again. And on and on it went, until they both gave their lives for speaking openly for the Gospel. Thousands of men were saved because of the way these guys lived their lives.

So, the demonstration at Chik-Fil-A…was that a good use of the freedom of speech given to all men? Or was it a vain attempt to stand up for something non-essential (for one’s salvation, I mean) that we adhere to in the Christian faith? Does God applaud us for taking such a stand for freedom of speech, or rather grieve that an entire people group felt even more isolated from the true God—the God they’re supposed to see in us?

I’m just wondering if we spend more energy being God’s defense attorneys than His actual hands and feet.

Anyway, that’s all I got. Deep stuff for now…like I said, still working through it. And feeling very grateful for the friends who challenge me on what I’ve blindly accepted so that I may truly examine it to find the truth.

worship wednesday 7-25

Joining Tiffany today as we try to just sit and worship for a minute...I have trouble with that, especially while in front of my computer, so I might excuse myself to a private place in the office for a few minutes (if I can find one).

God brought this song to mind following my quiet time this morning...I love Him so.



He calls us friends if we follow His commands...and at all times, He is the Friend that sticks closer than a brother. So grateful for His unending friendship.

Be blessed, worshipers!

thankful seventeen.

#336 - 364

the music of Bethel Church

Jenn Johnson

vacation nail polish (we're talking BRIGHT hot pink)

watching old and new thriller movies with my husband

vacation food

surprise dates

rain and a screened-in porch

reading a biography and feeling smarter

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

true stories of courage

love that conquers tragedy (bless you, Colorado)

washing machines

bookstores on a quiet Sunday evening

misheard lyrics

arranging music in a new style with great musicians who I also get to call friends

relaxed conversations

easy friendships

teaching truth

weekly coffee dates

the personalities of our house pets

fresh paint

redecorating

sunny mornings

gas station coffee

cheerful gas station attendants

that "I just worked out" feeling

giving people opportunities to use their giftings

Bob's Red Mill unsweetened coconut

the voice of the Lord bringing clarity and comfort


What are you thankful for today?

(currently reading this...)

Worship Wednesday 7-18

A happy worship break for today:



I'm basking in the goodness of God all around me today. Coffee with a new friend, an unexpected Starbucks treat from a darling girl, great conversations about life and redemption with my dad, an opportunity to breathe life into students later, relaxed times with my mind-blowingly wonderful husband, and an extended vacation (see last week's post for info on that--God extended my vaca to a two-weeker, and I have a feeling it'll go for three...). God's heart is so precious. I make life with Him seem harder than it really is...once I let go and relax in Him, things go a lot more smoothly. How about you?

Enjoy Him today, friend.