Monday, 8:33 pm - Meeting with Greg and Vena to plan October meetings. We also talk about the one meeting we have left in September, which was in two nights. It will be a worship/singing time at our house. We discuss the logistics. What time? 6:45 pm. What should we do with the kids? We decide to have them with us for 30 minutes and then to take them to another room to watch a video. Will that work? Maybe if we have popcorn available and one adult present to keep them quietly watching. Just maybe.
Tuesday, 9:07 pm - Our neighbor, Robert, plays the hand drums (or congas, or whatever you call them). His wife, Mollie, plays the keyboard. We had talked about them possibly joining us Wednesday night, so I called to see if they could make it. Robert didn't answer and I left a message.
Tuesday, 10:45 pm - I'm ready to go to bed and tell Amanda. She begins to stress because she's tired but the house is not ready for the meeting. I want to care, but I'm too tired to do so. I go to bed.
Wednesday, 6:00 am - I come out of the shower and see that Amanda is awake. I can tell she is stressed. I ask her. She confirms. She feels the weight of having to get the house ready for the meeting. She's regretting opening up our home. I try to encourage her, but do a bad job. I notice that she's reading John. I tell her that what she is doing today is what John gave his life for...the church. It comes out wrong, and it doesn't help. I leave to meet Jeff for breakfast.
10:43 am - Maria emails Amanda and me to tell us that she has reconnected with an old friend through facebook. That friend is coming to the meeting tonight. Um...okay.
11:40 am - I run to the grocery store next to Baylor to pick up a big bag of popcorn for the kids. I'm back in the office in 20 minutes.
2:00 pm - Amanda works her tail off to get the house ready. She wants it to look nice, but cleaning is just not her thing. But someone's got to do it. She has a headache. She's not feeling on top of the world.
4:40 pm - I promised Amanda that I would get home as soon as possible. My 4:00 meeting looks like it's about to end. Is it? Maybe? Yes! If I hurry and grab my things, I might make it home by 5:00. That would surely score some points. I realize that I have not prepared for class tomorrow. How do I let this happen?
5:03 pm - I pull into the driveway. If Amanda's in a bad mood, I'm going to make it clear I got home by 5, not 5:03. Then I realize I'm being stupid. I never gave her a time, anyway. What is wrong with me? I'm feeling anxious about Amanda. I'm feeling anxious about the meeting. Are you even going to show up, God? If you don't, I'm not going to be happy with You. What's the point of all this work if You do not even show up? Please show up, oh please.
5:45 pm - We're working like bees to get things ready. Amanda did most of the work already, but there are always finishing touches...lots of finishing touches. Amanda says to hurry up because Todd will probably arrive early.
6:00 pm - Amanda thinks we should move a couch from the living room to the family room to accommodate more people. I disagree. She wins. I call Patrick and ask him to come over and help. He does. Before he leaves, I ask him to pray for tonight. He does.
6:15 pm - House is almost ready. Amanda leaves to go get her cheek swabbed so that she can be put into a national registry for bone marrow donation. Do you really need to go when we are about to have people over? Yes. It's important.
6:30 pm - There's a knock on the door. It's Todd, arriving early. Oh well, it's good to see him. He keeps me company for the last few minutes of cleaning.
6:45 pm - The saints begin to arrive. I grab my guitar and put it by my seat. Kids stream in and find seats on the carpet. Adults come in and sit on couches and chairs.
6:55 pm - More kids. More adults. People are going to the dining room and bringing in chairs. People chatting as we near game time.
7:00 pm - We begin. Kim starts us off. She has brought a song on CD. We listen to it a few times. Kim also had sent me the chords, so after listening we sing it together. The song is Grace Flows Down. It was a great way to begin.
7:10 pm - Larry shares about how touched he is by the notion of grace. He reads from Romans 3 and Romans 8. It's a great word. Greg and Vena bring a song. It's a David Crowder song, and I had brought the same one. We listen to it on CD and then I play guitar and we sing it together. It was powerful. Vena shares that Chris Perez's mom had a car accident and is in the hospital. Ravi prays for her and them. Linda gives testimony about how, when not doing well, she decided to go for a walk. Kim was walking too, so they walked together and shared the Lord together. It really blessed Linda.
7:30 pm - It's time for the kids to transfer to the other room. No one had volunteered to watch them, so I take it upon myself to do the first shift. I ask for some kind soul to relieve me in 15 minutes. We have blankets and a DVD set up in the living room. I encourage the kids to be very quiet as I start the movie while beginning to serve popcorn. This might actually work!!
7:42 pm - Michael relieves me, and it's even before 15 minutes. Bless him.
7:43 pm - I rejoin the adults. I have no idea what we are talking about. Amanda asks Chris to talk about the letter he sent to the entire church the day before. But before Chris goes into it, Maria asks if we can sing a song of praise over what was just shared (I don't know what was just shared. I found out later that Erin's sister-in-law was met with a miracle from God in the healing of her son). We sing.
7:47 pm - Chris shares about not wanting to lose his heart for God. He might get a promotion at work soon. He used to go to bed thinking about the church. Now he goes to bed thinking about cars and other things he can buy. His heart is broken. He wants more. He wants God. Anyone else? Yes, people say. There is a sincere hunger. God, we need You. Take us with You. We want to go for it! Shelley (Maria's friend who we had never met before), then begins speaking, with tears in her eyes. She is struck by the presence of God. She has been caught up in some personal and financial issues after a personal tragedy in her family. She feels like, through the mess, she has gotten distracted from God. She wants God. She is now crying. Who is this person? Why is some stranger crying in my living room? God, this must be You. We pray for Shelley. Some pray that God will reveal Himself. Others just thank God for Shelley. More songs are sung. Jason has already relieved Michael. Thad has gone to relieve Jason. More songs are sung.
8:30 pm - It's a school night. God has really shown Himself, but people are needing to leave to get the kids ready for bed. They start to trickle out. Jeff leans over to me and says, "it's time." I knew what he meant. Rather than let the meeting fizzle out, why not end it and release people to stay and hang out or go if they need to do so. I ask if we can huddle together and pray. We do so. It's great. People are happy. Some leave, some stay, kids play with one another. Lots of laughter. Lots of chatter.
9:00 pm - Time for dinner. We were too busy to eat before the meeting. Greg and Vena stick around last. Greg makes a comment about grading. Amanda volunteers to help him grade. She doesn't feel well, and she hasn't eaten dinner. I tell her she's crazy. She insists. Greg, in desperation, brings over some papers to grade. Amanda is still grading them as I type this.
10:53 pm - I am almost finished blogging about the whole thing. Who needs twitter, I think to myself while writing it here. We had 34 adults in our home tonight to declare our love relationship with God. And that's not counting 19 children. So, all in all, more than 50 people were in our home tonight to meet as Believers. It was hard work. It was messy. But God did show up. Hallelujah. I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.
Anything.