Monday, November 10, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Brandy's View Of Life...At 6pm
From Jason: What follows is a weekly post from Brandy Malachowsky. Brandy and her husband Tim have been around for years at Tree of Life and they have been with us for the Sunday night service since we started back in July. Brandy asked me if I was going to write something about the election and I responded, "I don't know..maybe". My enthusiasm level wasn't high enough for Brandy, so here is her election day post.
All day long, I have had the Christmas song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" stuck in my head. That's because it is election day in America, and I truly think this is one of the most wonderful times of the year. This is the day when people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, get out to vote for who they think will best run our country. Or whoever did the best skit on SNL. Either one.
I am one of those strange people who look forward to election day. Election day is game time for me. My friends actually avoid me in the months of October and November. My 6 year old knows who is running for President & Senate, and who we are voting for, because that is what is discussed at the dinner table in our home this year. I spend months knocking on doors, sending emails, and calling voters. Why? Just to watch someone get sworn into office and think about who could run against them in 4 years. I love political campaigns. This is my passion. So I was a little disappointed this year when I got to choose between Candidate "Oh-Come-On-There-Must-Be-Someone-Better" and Candidate "I-Will-Seriously-Move-to-Canada". But this Presidential election, more than any other, has taught me something crucial: how important praying for our country is, and how wonderful it is that we have an all knowing, all powerful God.
So as you go out and vote today, and as you watch the election results come in over what will hopefully just be hours and not days, try not to get too discouraged.....God is still on the throne! And, hey, there's always 2012!
~~Brandy Malachowsky
All day long, I have had the Christmas song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" stuck in my head. That's because it is election day in America, and I truly think this is one of the most wonderful times of the year. This is the day when people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, get out to vote for who they think will best run our country. Or whoever did the best skit on SNL. Either one.
I am one of those strange people who look forward to election day. Election day is game time for me. My friends actually avoid me in the months of October and November. My 6 year old knows who is running for President & Senate, and who we are voting for, because that is what is discussed at the dinner table in our home this year. I spend months knocking on doors, sending emails, and calling voters. Why? Just to watch someone get sworn into office and think about who could run against them in 4 years. I love political campaigns. This is my passion. So I was a little disappointed this year when I got to choose between Candidate "Oh-Come-On-There-Must-Be-Someone-Better" and Candidate "I-Will-Seriously-Move-to-Canada". But this Presidential election, more than any other, has taught me something crucial: how important praying for our country is, and how wonderful it is that we have an all knowing, all powerful God.
So as you go out and vote today, and as you watch the election results come in over what will hopefully just be hours and not days, try not to get too discouraged.....God is still on the throne! And, hey, there's always 2012!
~~Brandy Malachowsky
Monday Downloads [on tuesday...sorry...]
*Sunday night felt different from the moment I walked into the church at 4:30. It was hard to explain then and even harder now, but everything just felt gloomy. I probably should have found a room to pray in right up until 6:00 but instead, I pushed Jakie around in his stroller and tried to encourage people and pray as I walked. Donovan is always happy so he cut into the gloom factor a bit. Joe seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and since he handles all of the tech and media and sound he was covering a lot of bases. Lindsey lost her grandfather earlier in the weekend, so she had a brave face on but she was hurting inside, and generally everyone seemed tired. The reason all of this is relevant and the reason I am being transparent about it is because I want everyone to know that even church leaders struggle. We get attacked. We get down. We worry. We carry burdens. We are real people with real life going on. This service is about real people journeying together and bringing each other along as we try to move from where we are in life to where God wants us to be. Sometimes we have tough times and Sunday night started out that way.
*The worship through music was wonderful. Things kept going wrong and Joe kept fixing them. The power on the stage went out during practice and Joe jumped right on it. The worship band, Face To Face, sat there through it all and took it as it came. They are wonderful and when the time came to lead us in worship they did. I still lose track of time when they lead us.
*I was able to talk to a lot more people Sunday night. People are hurting. I am overwhelmed by that, but it just pushes me closer to the Spirit and I know that I have to rely on Him for wisdom and discernment.
*The message came straight from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes things happen that we don't expect, but our responsibility is to make sure that anyone that the Lord trusts us with is able to worship with us through music and the sharing of God's Word.
*We had lots of people interested in reading through the Gospels with us during the month of November. If you haven't started, or if you've already fallen behind, don't let it get you down. Find some time to get away and read. Three chapters per night will take us through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John during the month of November. By tonight, we will be through Matthew 12. Please consider joining us. Its not too late. Right now, there are about 25 of us reading together that I know of.
*I will be posting several things this week about discipleship. I feel like I need to flesh out the message from Sunday, so tune in throughout the week.
*We are also posting this blog on WordPress and we will eventually switch completely to that site. Check us out at www.LifeAt6pm.wordpress.com.
*Can't wait until next week. Face To Face will be leading us in worship throughout the entire service. Donovan has been seeking the Spirit's guidance on this for quite a while now and I cannot wait...
*The worship through music was wonderful. Things kept going wrong and Joe kept fixing them. The power on the stage went out during practice and Joe jumped right on it. The worship band, Face To Face, sat there through it all and took it as it came. They are wonderful and when the time came to lead us in worship they did. I still lose track of time when they lead us.
*I was able to talk to a lot more people Sunday night. People are hurting. I am overwhelmed by that, but it just pushes me closer to the Spirit and I know that I have to rely on Him for wisdom and discernment.
*The message came straight from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes things happen that we don't expect, but our responsibility is to make sure that anyone that the Lord trusts us with is able to worship with us through music and the sharing of God's Word.
*We had lots of people interested in reading through the Gospels with us during the month of November. If you haven't started, or if you've already fallen behind, don't let it get you down. Find some time to get away and read. Three chapters per night will take us through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John during the month of November. By tonight, we will be through Matthew 12. Please consider joining us. Its not too late. Right now, there are about 25 of us reading together that I know of.
*I will be posting several things this week about discipleship. I feel like I need to flesh out the message from Sunday, so tune in throughout the week.
*We are also posting this blog on WordPress and we will eventually switch completely to that site. Check us out at www.LifeAt6pm.wordpress.com.
*Can't wait until next week. Face To Face will be leading us in worship throughout the entire service. Donovan has been seeking the Spirit's guidance on this for quite a while now and I cannot wait...
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