The downside of 1) owning several Christ-centered businesses and 2) working as a Church production director is that every religious holiday (Easter, Christmas) my workload increases. Even though the time is meant to serve as a time to draw reflection upon the sacrifice of Christ, for me my intimate times don't come around Easter, or December, but in the random times when I can get a couple days off, or in that long commute when I can turn the radio off and pray...
Now that I've guilted myself into "slow-down" mode, let me tell you about my Easter.
Every week I have the pleasure of seeing church on two campuses, Palmetto Bay and Homestead. I love it because it's one church, two campuses, yet the feel/environment is completely different...
Palmetto Bay, this Saturday night, was probably the most vibrant, passionate, energetic crowd I have EVER seen at Christ Fellowship. I've seen some incredible worship services, I've seen some that I wish I could forget. The audience connected with the worship environment that Sammy, Hector, and the rest of the Palmetto Bay Media crew worked to establish. Seriously, order the DVD. The audience was packed, hanging on every note, every verse, every word, every teaching point. Thank you, God, for showing up.
So you've got the big gun, mega-production of Palmetto Bay this weekend... and you've got the intimate settings of Homestead. Well, intimate if you count almost 500 people on campus intimate. We had a lot of new faces on campus today, and I hope and pray that through our service they were able to connect with God. We still have our issues on campus, but the problems are mostly equipment issues, not operator issues... Every week I'm more and more impressed by our volunteers. I know you all read this every week and think that I'm pandering to the crowd. I can say, though, without a doubt that CF Homestead would not be in existance without these people.
After Easter my parents somehow ended up hosting an Easter dinner with just about every CF Pastor under the age of 32 (and their spouses, kids). And if you know the church, you realize that we had like 16 people at the house. Crazy. Mom cooked paella, one of the best dishes she does. (She doesn't cook often, but when she does... O man is it good!)
Afterwards we ended up playing Nintendo Wii for a couple hours. For the record, I beat Jorge Molina in boxing (I was accused of being a big bully). I've added Jorge's name to a growing list of "people I've beat the crap out of" even if that happened in Nintendoland. Eric and Todd ran the table in doubles tennis... (I say that only because I know Eric reads the blog, and if I don't give props he'll give me flack).
Now it's 11pm Easter night, Amy and Beowulf are off to bed, and I'm alone with my thoughts. Another "Christian" holiday has come and gone, and honestly I don't think I gave it the respect due this year. In the Mary/Martha spectrum I have always landed squarely on Martha.
God, thank you for the quietness of this moment. Thank You for Your sacrifice. Lord, let my busyness not be wasted for earthly benefit, but use these hours for the development of Your Kingdom. And please, in these quiet moments, reveal Yourself. Thank you, again, for Your sacrifice. Honestly, I still do not understand why would waste your time on someone like me... but I'm glad you did.
O praise the One
who paid my debt
and raised this life
up from the dead
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