everything changes

Easter top 10 countdown

10 frames of wii bowling
9 outfit changes
8 hours at church
7 guitar chords to remember
6 minutes of alone time
5 scoops of ice cream
4 Easter services
3 urban dances
2 palm tree slivers
1 risen Lord Jesus

What a wonderful day. No lie, I'm exhausted, but it was well worth it to spend a morning praising and an afternoon relaxing! 3:45 a.m. This is officially the earliest I've ever gotten up on Easter morning. I was at church by 5, ready to run songs and dancing. We did our urban dance at the 6:00 service, and nailed it. We didn't do it at the 8:00 service because that's more traditional, and let's face it, a rap song has no place in a traditional service. So, by the 9:30 service my nerves had gone back up. Of course, it didn't help that the sanctuary was packed full and people were standing in the back. About 3/4 of the way done and we got to a part in the song where we lift our arms while the word "victorious" is being sung. For whatever reason, I got caught up in the moment, and wanted people to stand up at this point in the dance. So, I said out loud, "C'mon!!" and forgot where I was in the dance. Fortunately, that was the only moment in the song where I took a cue from the dancer in front of me and didn't miss a beat. Talk about a God moment. I have no idea what came over me or what possessed me to say something out loud while dancing, but I did.

I also got to sing the song, "Everything Changes" by Kathryn Scott for all four services with guitar. It was a beautiful song, so it was incredibly meaningful to sing the words and bring the amazing message of the way everything in our lives change when Christ comes. Here are the lyrics:

Mercy to the brokenhearted
Life to those who grieve
Joy to those whose dreams are stolen
Imprisoned souled released

When you come everything changes
When you speak even the darkness hides
When you step into our frailty, Jesus
You restore every broken life
And Everything changes.

Blessing to the poor in spirit
Grace for those in need
Sight to those who live in darkness
Innocence redeemed.

This is the kingdom come.
This is the kingdom.

It was pretty hilarious during the service because I had to change my outfit a total of 9 times during worship for singing, dancing, and the prayers. From my dress, to my capris, to my alb, I never heard the sermon in its entirety because I was always changing clothes during it. Maybe that's what a model feels like when she frantically changes clothes between runway walks.

I decided to be brave today and lead the Easter prayers extemporaneously. About 2 minutes of thought went into what I might want to say before the service, but decided I was going to let the Holy Spirit do the leading rather than premeditating them. One of our prayer ministers came up to me after the first service and said she felt like she had just seen a flower fully bloom. Her affirmation was so kind and increased my confidence to do it again at the next 3 services. I'm not sure why I stress about writing perfect prayers. What's wrong with bobbling through them if they come from the heart? I'd vote nothing.

There's a beautiful tradition at Good Shepherd called the "living cross." A wooden cross wrapped in chicken wire gets set on the patio early on Sunday morning, and people bring flowers from their garden to turn it into something beautiful. Everything around here has gotten so colorful and bright, including the cross. It went from bare and boring, to bright and bold within hours! What a great idea!

The Luhmann's invited me to Chet & Theresa's house for Easter lunch. Theresa filled an Easter basket for me and told me I'd have to find it in the house and that everything is "on limits." We spent an hour looking for our baskets in their huge home, and found them tucked in some pretty sneaky places. Then we enjoyed a wonderful lunch: ribs, ham, potatoes, broccoli salad, fruit, brownies, cake, and ICE CREAM! Long overdue. After lunch, all the kids were forced into the garage. We stood out there for 15 minutes waiting for all the Easter eggs to get hidden in the back yard. All of the eggs were colorful, except one: the GOLDEN egg. This egg had a special surprise inside, so everyone wanted it. When we were set free in the backyard, it was a mad house. Searching, filling bags, hunting. No golden egg. Where could it be? I found myself hunting through the palm plants next to the pool. Those dang things have sharp stickers on them. I poked myself so hard on one that my hand started bleeding. Then I got two splinters in my hand from trying to look through the leaves. All for a stupid golden egg. It seemed silly until all of a sudden I moved back a leaf and saw the shiny little egg. I felt like Willy Wonka. I jumped up and down and freaked out! (Lynda happened to get a picture of the moment). All the other kids groaned that I had found it. Inside: $10! What a day! Bobby (the defending golden egg finder) and I had to take a picture together. They said now I have to come back next year to defend my title! :) We went back in the garage...the eggs were filled again...this time with money, and we went at it one more time. Chet tried holding us in the door until the littlest kid had a few seconds to grab eggs. We forced our way through. One egg got thrown into the middle of the pool and Devin jumped in the pool with his clothes on to get it (it was empty). We spent the afternoon having a wii bowling tournament, sharing birthday cake for Theresa, and taking pictures by the pool! It was a day of overwhelming kindness. I can image it would be easy to not invite a stranger over for family holidays, but the fact that they welcomed me was such a blessing. Theresa and Chet are wonderful grandparents. They go out of their way to make holidays memorable for their kids and grandchildren. I want to be a mom and grandma like that.

Well, I'm running out of steam. My body is on a new early morning schedule it seems, so right now at 9:00 it's saying its time to go to bed. Happy Easter everyone! Good night!