First Day of GA

We had a lot of fun riding to Nashville on the GA Party Bus 2011! Watching the Vicar of Dibley on DVD really was a lot of fun. I highly recommend it if you want a good British laugh. But by the time we got to our hotel, we were tired and hot and hungry, and opening worship was about to start. So, we dragged our tired bodies over to the convention center.

I won't give you the blow by blow of the service. They are live-streaming the services and you can go to www.disciples.org and watch them if you want. There were good things, great things, and mediocre things that happened. But the highlight for me - by far - was when they showed a video on the big screen listing all the names of the new churches that have been started in the past 10 years. I knew the name of Living Water would be up there somewhere, and I also knew that I had sent some photos of our church months ago when the New Church Commission sent out an email asking for them. So I was expecting that I might see one of my photos. I did. And it was exciting. It was a photo taken when Stacey was baptized. I smiled when I saw it - such a great memory, a great day. And then a few seconds later I saw another LW photo on the screen - Timothy and Attisen smiling over their graham cracker walls of Jericho they made in Sunday School. I smiled again at that memory. And then a minute later another photo of the skits we did at the All-Church Retreat at Tall Oaks. A big smile broke out across my face. At each photo, I turned to Bethany and said excitedly, "That's Living Water!" And then there was another photo - from a Christmas service a few years ago - Kris was sitting with her cello and Niko was beside her with a drum. By this point I realized that they had used all the photos I sent. And each one reminded me why our church is so special, why the people there are some of the greatest people in any church anywhere (in my totally unbiased opinion).

I was filled with a deep love for this church, for these people. "God," I prayed, "I love these people." What a sweet reminder of the reason I am here. It may be a big convention with moments of greatness and moments of frustration. But last night, the reason I'm here was made clear. This denomination nurtured me and my family and gave birth to Living Water. Despite our other faults and blemishes, I think we're pretty cool for that.