3 Weeks off makes you think!?

I just wrapped up a three week ‘stay-work-ation’, yeah I just made that word up, it’s my blog I can do that! Essentially, we have a ton of work to do on Acorn Ridge to get it ready to serve those who serve. So I spent the last several weeks painting, patching, sanding, weed whacking, and etc. During the weekends I spent my time luxuriously relaxing pool side…in a bleacher seat watching my youngest swim at three back to back to back meets. So, to say that I had a lot of time to think, is an understatement!

Each weekend I was gone I logged onto ExperienceFriendship.com and either watched or listened to one of our amazing elders deliver God’s Word in a powerful and challenging way. It was awesome, and I was so encouraged with what an amazing job they did. What I found myself missing though was the music, yeah you read that right! I found myself this last Sunday, my first Sunday back, just overwhelmed with the amazing sound of nearly 400 people joined in public, loud, joyful, and enthusiastic musical worship of our great God! I reflected on people whom I’ve heard say things like, ‘you don’t NEED to go to church to be a Christian’, or ‘my church is on tv’ or something to that effect. I never bought that excuse, yes that’s what it is, but during our time away I realized just how sad it must be to never experience the joyful worship of God’s people.

During our time off we did see and or ‘hang out’ with people that go to Friendship, but there is something special about wandering the halls on Sunday morning and taking in the buzz of excitement as people are using their gifts to serve our great King. There is an electricity in the air on Sundays at Friendship that just can’t be duplicated, it must be experienced. I, of course, am a little bias on this front, but it has been confirmed to me by others over and over again. I even had a family tell me just this last weekend, that they cut their trip to Kentucky Kingdom short just so they wouldn’t miss this last week. Okay, that’s awesome!

The bottom line is, I really missed being a part of the experience at Friendship, there was a hole in my heart each weekend. The old saying is, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’, I don’t know if that’s true in every sense, but I’ve gotta say, being away from you all sure did whet my appetite for getting back!

Dave