Remember that night?

An oldie drafts folder post... Written almost exactly a year ago, I think... Maybe closer to the end of April... And yes, I remember that night.

There's no place I would rather be.

Except... There is somewhere I'd rather be. Things I'd rather be doing. People I'd rather see.

I'd rather be at Tehillah, worshipping with people who feel like friends even though I've never met them.
I'd rather be at my friends' school, watching plays.

I'm sitting on my bed. Writing an essay. (Okay, fine, I'm taking a quick break from writing from my head to write from my heart. It'll do me good in the long run. haha)

But... I'm glad I'm here.

I'm watching a live stream of Tehillah online while I write. It's definitely not the same, but it's better than nothing. Pastor Clay said that tonight is the night we'll look back on and say, "remember that night?"

And he didn't just say it to the people physically at Tehillah, either. He said it can happen to anyone anywhere.

So it's going to happen for me. Here. Sitting on my bed, by my open window, with the sunlight streaming in my window and reflecting off my yellow walls bathing the room in a soft buttery glow.

There's no place I'd rather be.

Than here in Your love.

I love that. Not just "In Your love."

But HERE in Your love.

Because that's where I am. I'm in Your love. And that's why I can look back on tonight and say "remember that night?". Because tonight I'm overwhelmed with Love.

I'm listening now to Pastor Claire singing, "There is nowhere else I would rather be than completely and utterly surrounded by Your presence. In the middle of Your will, in the middle of Your truth, in the middle of Your love. Right here."

And I'm not there in that room- I'm here.

But that's where I am. In the middle of His will, truth and love. And nothing else seems to matter.

Do you know why I'm here?

There's this man. He's 60 years older than me, and I recently found out that he's known my family for 4 generations before me. (I didn't find this out until I had seen him at Tehillah every week for almost a year!)

When I watch him worship with such faithfulness, I can't help thinking, "wow, I want to live out my life and faith like that guy."

He's turned into a little faith hero of mine.

I approached him the other night and told him so.

His face lit up, "Thank you! But do you know why I'm here?"

Why is he always here? Its loud and crazy... and almost everyone else is under 25... Why are you here?

He looked almost giddy, "if I'm not here, I might miss something amazing God might do!"

God is always at work, obviously. And no matter where you go, you'll have opportunities to see Him at work. And I know He's always with me... But its different when you're with others that share that passion, isn't it?

Isn't there a promise that where two or more are gathered in His name, He'll be there, too? (Matt. 18:20)

I don't want to miss a gathering of God's people, because when those people gather, the Spirit will be there, too. And when He shows up, who knows what might happen.