The Sunday morning after a 5th Sunday, the youth music group leads the music part of the service, for the dual purpose of giving them experience and also to give most of the usual musicians a break (though Austin, Archer, and Law are part of the youth group and the main group, so they play either way). So Austin called for a practice last night.
It would be my first time to play with them for a Sunday morning, so I'd never been at one of those practices and didn't know how one usually went. According to the others, it went much different than usual.
We were going to do five songs, but only had two decided on, so after a brief consultation we selected three others, Austin printed the sheets for everyone, and we got started.
There was the usual guitar tuning, joking, bossing, and generally good-natured carrying on. But the electrical system was acting really crazy and messing up the volumes, Law's cable wouldn't stay plugged in, we had to re-listen to a couple of the longer songs to make sure we were doing them right, it was the end of a long day and we were tired, few of us had eaten supper yet so we were hungry, and lots of other little discouragements and inconveniences kept coming up.
Yet somehow, we had an absolutely amazing time. I think each person commented or told me at some point that it was the longest and most meaningful practice they'd ever had when preparing for a Sunday morning. As Simon said, 'We're not rehearsing, we're practicing.' which I took to mean that we weren't just going through motions we'd learned and that had become all habit and no heart; each one was really putting his or her heart into it, seeming to dedicate himself to doing his best for the glory of the Lord.
We worked hard, fine-tuning until each thing was right, or at least close enough to being right so that it would be easy when we ran through everything one more time Sunday morning before services. And we seemed to have a freedom to worship God with our music that isn't always there when in front of an audience; after all, we weren't playing for anybody... God and Joy were the only ones there to hear us, so we just practiced to Him! It was really a meaningful, sweet time. Helping, encouraging, and challenging one another, and prayerfully begging the Lord to give us hearts that would sing and play only for Him and His glory.
Here's what I jotted down later in my 'Tidbits from Life' journal:
"Practice from 5:00 until past 7:30 - for youth-led music Sun. morn. Hard work, great fellowship, successful practice; the presence of the Holy Spirit was there & we just played for God. I think everyone commented that it had been the longest & the best practice they'd ever had. Sweet time."
How thankful I am for each of these dear young people! Austin, Archer, Julia, Law, and Simon. How blessed I am that the Lord has allowed me the privilege of sharing in their wonderful talents. Oh may we only ever use them for Him!
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