Revival

So I am on vacation. One week of not having to stress out about preaching on Sunday. I was suppose to be in NJ but a mix-up of dates has caused me to be still here in Oklahoma. But its not all that bad. I am sorting through house things that have not been sorted through and taken care of since I moved in. I finally arranged to get a landline and wireless Internet. And I am getting my office truly organized to my specifications. Doesn't quite sound like a vacation but I have been too busy to do it before now. And I feel better now that I have started working on it.

So I am feeling pretty good and productive. I felt so good that I went to a revival at a nearby church on Tuesday and Wednesday. My adult church had been asked to do devotions on Tuesday and to my utter surprise 7 of my 25-30 members showed up. I was expecting and would have been pleased if the usual 4 had shown up close to on-time.

Now, I have been to many revivals in the past but never as a pastor. Indian churches are kinda different. Some are what I would call old school churches and they have appointed people at the entrance of the church, sorta like greeters. The difference is that these people (usually men) have big sticks, or canes and they seat you. Or rather they point to the place where you are to sit. And you go sit there. Mainly because they have the big stick. I remember a old choctaw church that had a old lady who was this greeter person who used to try to swat me and the other children who went in and out of the chuch during service. Usually old school churches seat men and women separate. And all the pastors are directed to sit up front. I have yet to be in this situation but I am a little nervous about it.

This particular church was not old school;it is an urban church. But they do an alter call or call to discipleship after the message and it is custom for all the pastors present to come to the alter area to pray with people needing prayer. I was a little nervous about this as well. There were no alter people on Tuesday but Wednesday, after Wednesday's preacher opened the alter, it looked like 2 pews of people rose and headed to the rail.

I was one of only three pastors present so I knew I was needed up there. So I went trying to figure out which person to pray with (first come first serve? What if they all got there at the same time?) and what the heck would I say? I finally settled on a young lady sobbing quietly on the end. I don't really have any philosophies about alter call pastor behavior so I simply knelt next to her, mirrored her arms and hands so that we were touching. Then I asked her if I could pray with her about what was burdening her. She told me and I prayed with her. When I finished the prayer, I was going to leave but she didn't leave so I stayed and wondered of she was maybe expecting words of encouragement. This is what I get for having not gone to the alter during my youth...

So I spoke some words of what I hope to God were encouragement to her and then she left. By this point I was kinda feeling some pain in my knees from kneeling there for so long and I was also feeling like perhaps I had inadequately conveyed God's grace to the young lady. I was at the alter thinking and feeling all this when a little head pops up on the other side of the alter. A little girl with pigtails about 3 years old. She smiled at me so I automatically smiled back and said hi. Another head pops up. Another little girl. I say hi to her too and I am thinking maybe I should ask if they want me to pray with them. I figured they belonged to the woman nearby praying with another pastor, but you never know. They might want prayer too, right? So I leaned in and strangely they leaned in to me still smiling like we were about to share some great secrets but then an older sibling came and took them by the hand before I can speak. They left the alter waving bye to me and laughing. I honestly don't think I have ever felt a joy like this so near the alter. Little kids rock!! I am thinking about doing alter calls for the kids at the Clinton church.

Tooth Fairy

I had a really nice long blog prepared, or I was preparing a nice one but I grew weary of checking that all my fact were indeed correct. Its now the 3rd or forth blog stuck in the "Save Now" section of my blog.

Ya know, when I started this blog I had lots of interesting things to say and think about but now I find I am happy merely sitting in my chair in the living room and staring endlessly at my toes. (They are painted silver) I am hoping it is just a phase but you never know with me. I am currently in my chair pretending that my jaw doesn't hurt. I got a wisdom tooth pulled and it was a "doozy" as my nutty dentist kept saying. I can feel my eye twitching.

Oh, yes, I was brave for about ten minutes regarding changing my life. Being brave is kinda easy, I find that I not afraid of being brave, I am just lazy. Hence, the chair sitting.

Tomorrow I am off to Nashville for a meeting. I am not really sure what the meeting is about but it was a plane ride somewhere and I have just been sitting in my chair so I figured I should go. I am now kinda worried because I am recalling a message left by the person wanting me to go and I think he said something about talking about my persepective on something...I'd call him but I think he is in New York. Whatever, as long as I am out of the chair.

I think the tooth drugs have kicked in...