Not What I Would Have Planned

Last weekend we had plans to go to Lake Geneva for a race Jeff was running (as I wrote about yesterday). We were going to leave at noon on Friday and spend the afternoon introducing Jack to the swimming pool. However, no one seems to have created an app to sync my iPhone calendar with our home paper calendar, and thus we had a conflict.

My sister-in-law had given me tickets at Christmas to a concert Friday night. So Jeff and I decided we would go to the concert, come home, wake Jack up, and drive up to Lake Geneva late Friday night. We assumed Jack would just go back to sleep in the car. Instead, Jeff slept in the car and Jack talked to me while I drove.

It ended up working out though because the wake for my friend Heidi who died earlier in the week was Friday afternoon. Jeff had an appointment to get his car worked on, so I took Jack and met my mom and sister at the funeral home. We knew there would be quite a crowd so we got there almost when it began.

I’ve never seen anything quite like it… hundreds of people waiting in a line that weaved through the large funeral home, looking at pictures of Heidi with her family and friends as some of her favorite Fernando Ortega songs played. The vast crowd was surely a testimony to her life: friendly, caring, compassionate, joyful.

If it was any other concert, I would have skipped it. But it was Chris Tomlin. I have all of his albums and have never seen him in concert. He’s one of the best contemporary Christian song writers and worship leaders. So I rushed home after the wake and Jeff and I rushed to make it to the concert on time.

Going from a wake to a concert isn’t what I would have planned. But this wasn’t just a concert, it was truly focused on Jesus, worshipping him with thousands of people around. As the first song played, I knew I was right where I was supposed to be. Kari Jobe singing We Are“Make the most of the time we have left, We are the light of the world… We gotta let the light shine”

Well Done – For Heidi

I was working on my Bible study homework and the card from Heidi’s funeral service was next to me. I read the poem on the card again and immediately started to think of words for a new song. I felt like God gave me the words and music for this song to remember Heidi, to picture her passing from earth to heaven and the joy she experiences there. It makes me long for heaven even more.

I wanted to share it with you so here’s a rough video of me singing and playing. The lyrics are below. I hope it’s a blessing to you.

Well Done – For Heidi Walsh
Standing on the beaches as the ship sails in the sea
Waving goodbye as long as she waves back at me
As she fades into the distance my heart is sad for me
Goodbye, my friend, goodbye

Across the sea stands another shore waiting to welcome her
She waves goodbye to me and turns to look forward
The One standing on the shoreline has His arms spread open wide
“Welcome home, My friend, welcome home!”

“Well done good and faithful servant!
Well done good and faithful friend!
You’ve been My hands and feet to a lost world
You have shined so bright for Me”

All the faces look familiar, they’re all instantly known
And the One who she has followed now welcomes her home
She sings “Holy Holy, I knew You were the One!
You have been my joy. You’ve been everything to me”

He Knows My Name

Here’s a quick, low-production video I put together. We have so many ultrasound pictures I thought it’d be nice to put them in a video to see how Baby has progressed.  The majority of the pictures are just of his face.  For many of them, his face was pressed up against the placenta so you only see his profile or his nose and an eye.  He wasn’t always cooperative for pictures. Hopefully that changes when he exits the womb.

Song is He Knows My Name by Tommy Walker (c) 1996 Doulos Publishing

 

The Power of Music

I’m not sure which is worse: not being able to leave my house or not being able to play my guitar. The iPad guitar app just isn’t the same.

Music has always been powerful in my life. God has given me songs to write, some even years ago that seem to really apply to my life now. Some songs I hear in church or on the radio that speak to me, giving me comfort, hope, and encouragement.

One song that has stood out over the last year is Desert Song by Hillsong. I first heard it about one year ago and instantly loved it. I recommended it to my sister for a women’s retreat in March that we were doing music for. The retreat happened to be about suffering and trials and Desert Song became the theme. Little did I know it would soon be my personal theme song.

I had Caleb on February 24, the weekend I was supposed to be in Wisconsin practicing for the retreat. After a few days passed and I was able to process life a little, I knew I was still supposed to play for the retreat just a few weeks later. I was encouraged by this video that tells a story of the song quite similar to mine.

In the desert, in the fire, in the battle – even when triumph hasn’t come yet, I will trust God.  I will bring praise, I will rejoice, and I will declare God is my victory and He is here!

Take 5 minutes and watch the video. If you haven’t already, some day you’ll have to walk through hard times. Choose your reaction now.