Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Sabbath in Sallisaw...

Doesn't the name "Sallisaw" just sound so adventurous?! Like the name I might have given my Indian home when I was playing "Little House on the Prairie" games as a child.

Well, this last Sabbath I went with the Oklahoma Academy music groups on their concert trip to Sallisaw Oklahoma...only about 3 hours drive East. It was a long, cool ride (since temperatures have been low lately), but we came bundled with our blankets, and the experience brought back more nostalgic memories! What fun I had as a student, bouncing along the Oklahoma roads in our old MCI bus...and it's still fun. Not comfortable necessarily, but fun...maybe because you feel like adventure is ahead. :-)

God really blessed in the program. It was kinda interesting, because initially people started clapping after the songs, but then, they stopped...it was like they could autmatically sense that this was not a "performance" but something more sacred... "A sermon in music form." The atmosphere was reverent, and some even had tears in their eyes. The service closed with a baptism, candelight service and prayer.

One highlight of the day was that I got to spend some time with my old childhood best friend Valerie. We've known each other since we were like 5 years old, but somehow btw 15 and 25, we kinda lost track of each other. But then the last few years, God brought us back together. It's kinda funny, because although living different lives and going to school at different places, our lives have paralleled in amazing ways. We are both Nurses, we both love missions and travel, we both drive gold Honda's, we both wear the same clothes styles, we both have had our hearts seriously broken, life hasn't gone as we planned, but we are still holding on to God, and we are both still seeking God with all our hearts! What a blessing to have such a "kindred spirit" in a friend!

I am downloading a few pictures from our day...my favorite though is the one of the candle...the picture is black and white, but the candle is the only color. Thus, we live in a dark cold world, buried and covered by sin, but God has given us His Light to share and bring hope and life back to our hearts. Also reminds me of one of my favorite childhood songs... "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine..."

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