Awakening (Chris Tomlin)
Psalm 57:8 - Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.
Our last camp of the summer took place this past week, and it was a great one. I grew up going to Mount Lebanon with First Baptist Church of Woodway for Sondays camp. 2003 was my last year to go as a student and it was a killer line-up: Chris Tomlin leading worship and some new guy named Matt Chandler bringing the Word. In 2006, I was 21 years old and had some big shoes to fill as Dutton was asked to lead worship alongside Chandler for his return to Sondays. By that time, Matt had become my favorite speaker on the planet, so when I heard that Sondays 2010 was going to be the "Re-return" of Matt Chandler to Sondays, I resolved to do everything I could to make it the best experience possible.
"What's the theme?" I said.
"Awakening," said camp director Bob.
"WE'LL LEARN IT!" I said.
Word of caution: When presented with a camp theme, such as "Awakening," make sure you are aware of all songs by that title. Here's how the conversation should've gone:
"What's the theme?" I said.
"Awakening," said camp director Bob.
"Which one?" I should've said.
"Switchfoot" he would've said.
Nevertheless, the Tomlin "Awakening" was worth learning, and because of this providential mistake, we'll probably be singing it at the Heights for many months and even years to come. God is funny.
In Control (Logan Walter)
Psalm 24:1 - The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it
I know, I know. I've been talking a lot about our travels. What about our home church? Relax, everybody just relax and know that we may spend 4 or 5 days with these campers, but we spend 40 or 50 Sundays with The Heights, and this allows for a much deeper connection. For example, we must carefully choose a few songs from our catalogue, which we will teach campers over the course of a week, but it is impossible to present all of our songs in a meaningful way, given our short time frame with these students. So a song like "In Control" is almost never played on the road.
A lot of people ask me how we keep things fresh when we are in front of the same people every week on Sunday morning. To that I would respond: Sunday morning is the freshest time of the week for the Dutton crew. It's our chance to present new songs, play songs we don't normally play, say things we don't normally say, pray through scriptures for each song (see the verses underneath each song on this blog? Those will be projected on the back wall each Sunday morning. One of my favorite parts of the week is searching the scriptures for a verse that will connect to the hearts of the worshippers, as they sing each song).
That being said, I am looking forward to leading with "In Control" tomorrow.
Facedown (Matt Redman)
psalm 95:6 - Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker
Facedown is the name of a song, the name of an album (with DVD), and the name of a book by Matt Redman. All three have meant a lot to me. If you don't have all of these, you should at least check them out online. Here's a clip from the Album/DVD: FACEDOWN VIDEO
Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman)
Psalm 119:107 "I have suffered much; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word."
Wednesday night I had the pleasure of going to dinner with the Chandler family, which consists of Matt, his wife Lauren, their 7 year old Audrey, 4 year old Reid, 1 year old Norah, and nanny Stephanie. Audrey sat by me, so she could show me all of her options for fingernail polish (glitter was the common theme), Matt sat across from me, where he could help Reid conquer a world of villainy on his hand held gaming system (probably Matt's iPhone now that I think about it), while Stephanie and Lauren sat on the other end of the table, where they could help feed Norah, who might be the happiest toddler I have ever seen. At one point, I said "Norah's a happy kid," half-expecting to hear "You should see her when she's tired" in response. But no, the parents agreed, she really is a happy kid.
That night I couldn't fall asleep. My heart was heavy. I stayed up and prayed for Matt's MRI results. He was going to Baylor Medical at 8am the next morning to find out if his brain cancer had spread. I was sad, mad, confused. How could the God I serve allow this to happen?
The next day I found out that Matt's scan was clean, and I was able to give him a hug at dinner that night.
"It's a good feeling," he said.
"Sic em Bears!" I said. (Listen, I know his oncologist didn't do her undergrad in Waco, but the sign on her hospital says Baylor in big, fat letters, so you know what? I was happy, I was relieved, and I felt like doing a Sic em.)
"So what does a 'good MRI result' mean?" I said.
"It means that I start chemo again on Saturday, and I'll go in for another MRI in two months," he said.
"So you're not in remission?" I said.
"Lauren, do they ever use the word 'remission' for this type of cancer?" he said.
She shook her head no.
"To the doctors, it will always exist on a cellular level, but I believe the Lord has healed me," he said.
"How do you feel?" I said.
"I feel great," he said.
That night Matt took us on the roller coaster ride that has been his life the past eight months. He told the story of his seizure, the diagnosis, the surgery, the realization that the tumor wasn't encapsulated, the radiation, the chemo, and then he started talking about his family.
"We've cried many tears at the Chandler house. Reid would tell me he loved me, and I would just start weeping. At one point, Lauren asked why I was always retreating to my room, and I had to tell her I couldn't be around the kids, it made me want to cry."
At that point in the sermon, I was hiding my own tears from the campers. Then he said something that broke me.
"The doctors have given me 2-3 years to live. That was 8 months ago."
I started weeping. Yeesh, I'm tearing up even as I blog about it. I thought "Good MRI results" meant he was healed. I thought the prayers had worked once and for all, I thought it was a done deal, I thought it was confirmed that Matt was on the road to full recovery. In faith, I still believe this to be so. I still believe as Matt believes, that the Lord has healed him and will continue to heal him, but there is no doubt that the Chandler family is going through a trial like most of us will never know.
After his sermon, we got up on stage, and I teared up again as we sang these words:
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be your name
The song had new meaning, new power, new faith. You could taste the bitterness and sweetness of life in the lyrics. God used Matt's story to show us a glimpse of heaven that night, as we sang. It was Holy worship.
And tomorrow will be no different. We will enter directly into the Holy of Holies and sing this song for the glory of our Creator. And after we sing, Afshin Ziafat is going to share with us about another trial that is unlike any we have ever known, and it comes from Genesis 22. He gives and takes away:
Genesis 22:2 - Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
PRAY FOR MATT AS HE GOES THROUGH A ROUND OF CHEMO THIS WEEK!
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