Tuesday, April 20, 2010

mountaintop highs



Got the awesome opportunity to go with Trinity's several worship teams to the Hillsong United concert. We loaded up a couple of 15 passenger vans and headed out to Des Moines, Iowa for an amazing night of Jesus time.  I know that God speaks to everyone a little bit differently. Some see Him in nature, in people, in art, or in the written word. Some are brought into the presence of God by an amazing sermon, a beautiful cathedral, or a sunset.  God has always used music as a way to draw me near to Him. Since I was a tiny kid, music was the avenue that God chose to woo my heart. And it's still the fastest way for me to get into intimate communication with Him.

Worship, for me, isn't about the words or the melody.  It's about coming into a place where I am able to let down the walls I keep to guard my heart and throw myself at the feet of the King with reckless abandon.  I can't explain it in terms that can be understood. But what I know, is that these times of tangible closeness with my Savior are priceless. I am so grateful that we serve a LIVING God.  I'm so grateful that He would chose to make Himself known to me.

When I am at a loss for words, I'm comforted to know that there are those in history who describe what I have experienced. By the breath of God, they put a language to a divine exchange.


"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne - high, exalted! - and the train of his robes filled the Temple.  Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings.  With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew.  And they called back and forth one to the other,
       'Holy, Holy, Holy is the God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
       His bright glory fills the whole earth.'


The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
      'Doom! It's Doomsday!
      I'm good as dead!
      Every word I've ever spoken is tainted --
        blasphemous even!
      And the people I live with talk the same way,
       using words that corrupt and desecrate.
      And here I've looked God in the face!
      The King!  God-of-the-Angel Armies!'


Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me.  He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.  He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
      'Look. This coal has touched your lips.
        Gone your guilt,
        your sins wiped out.'
      And then I heard the voice of the Master:
        'Whom shall I send?
         Who will go for us?'
      I spoke up,
       'I'll go.
        Send me!'"


[The commission of Isaiah the prophet as recorded in Isaiah 6:1-8]


*Update*  Abbey sent me an email last night:
"All I wanna say, is that on the last airplane ride home tonight I couldn't be more uncomfortable. Seat 31 right over the dumb engines.  I finally put on my 'praise' set lit on my iPod and the song "I Will Go" by the Desperation Band drew my attention, and the whole time I kept thinking of you and didn't know why.  Like I wanted to text you and tell you to download the song, but I couldn't cuz I was on an airplane. ;P So at the end of the song he quotes that entire scripture.  So when I read it just now on your blog it was one of those 'in alignment with the Holy Spirit' moments."

God is awesome. :)

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