Wow, what an incredible day Sunday was as we celebrated together by dedicating our church to Christ for what He has done for us, to each other for the journey we have entered and to our community, of which we have been called to serve. I cannot begin to explain how incredible it felt to be gathered together last weekend. But I'm going to try to hit a couple of high points for me personally and I would love to hear yours.
Saturday afternoon. I went to Heritage Park Baptist Church to meet Cameron before the PCI guys showed up with our trailer full of equipment. We had to merge our equipment with theirs. I pulled around the corner only to find not Cameron, but the 24 ft. black trailer staring back at me. I have to admit that it sent chills up my neck because of the sacrifice that the trailer represents. I got out of the car and walked around the slick black trailer and thought to myself, "Self, we're here." The PCI representative that came down, then drove up and asked where everyone was. He said that most churches have a team waiting to see the trailer. I said there would be no fanfare here, inside thinking, "It's a trailer of stuff...it's not Jesus!" This was just the signal that our we were going into labor and in less than 24 hours we would have had our first service. Nothing worthy of a parade, but for me, worth noting.
Saturday night. Business. We got in and did what we had to do to get ready. No emotional speeches, just business. And that was good. We left with just enough to do the next morning to take us to the service. Good job gang.
Sunday morning. I stayed up all night working on a video for the service. Shouldn't have, but I did. Many of you on the team told me how hard it was to sleep anyway, so I guess I wasn't missing anything. At about 3:45, I had finished the first run through of the video and as I watched it alone in my office with my headphones on, I began to sense the emotion of the day rising within me. I had to watch the video straight through several times and every time I almost lost it. Then we get to the Y and start the prep for the service and everyone has a great sense of excitement. I'm so tired that I can't be too keyed up at this moment, but I sense something special rising up. Guests arrive and kids are checked in, the pre-service countdown starts. Five minutes. Crowder is playing in the background. "T minus 1 minute 20 seconds and counting" came in over the speakers and the video screens are filled with images of a shuttle launch. The sequence is building...T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6... and we are off! The gym was shaking and the shuttle launched, symbolizing the launch of Church @ The Springs. Then the band played "Foreverandever, etc." by David Crowder Band and we got to the line that has been so influential to me and to Cameron over the past 10 months: "I think I'm on the brink of something large, maybe like the breaking of the dawn, maybe like a match being lit or the sinking of a ship, letting go gives a better grip." And I lost it. I mean, all the emotion of the past 10 months - the informational meetings, the table groups, the rainy Father's Day baseball game, the remodel of a house in Angleton, our Creekside Habitat day, the sole2soul shoe drive, the breakfasts at Bronco Burrito, the conversations in living rooms. All of it built up something incredibly meaningful at that moment. Seeing friends and family at the service that have done so much for us. Friends that we've known for over ten years driving down just to be part of that day...wow! It was amazing.
The table. After the service and tear down, many of us wandered over to Marina's for lunch at the table. We shared stories and feelings about the day and about what just might happen through this band of believers who make up the Springs. On one side of me, I had my oldest friend that I call family and on my other side I had perhaps my newest friends that I call family. It just doesn't get much better than that. For the first time in a long, long time, I felt refreshed after a long hard weekend of "doing church" because I sat among friends and we were the Church.
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I sent an email the other day, similar in nature to Brad's. Yet the one thing that really caught my attention from Brads's was the phrase: For the first time in a long, long time, I felt refreshed after a long hard weekend..." I thought to my self, I too felt refreshed. So many times I get to Sunday evening and I say "where did the time go? I am tired and don't feel like I made a dent in my list, nor do I feel like I have gotten any rest. Truly, this weekend was different. It seemed long in a good sense, the opposite of having passed too quickly. I hope all of you felt something like that: a satisfaction of the soul.
Pete T.
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