“Yes, Lord”-Weeks 3 & 4
We are in our fourth week of the joyful craziness called ‘The Masters Guild’, and the spontaneity is up to levels I have never experienced. I’ve always enjoyed last-minute expeditions and projects, but most of the time, I’ve been the one with the ideas, leading the charge into the eleventh-hour ventures. In the past couple of weeks, however, I’ve been learning to let go of the right to know what’s going on. Waking up and packing many random items into a bag has become routine, for one may be cleaning the kitchen in two hours, or one may be in Pennsylvania…
…or one may be eating breakfast beside a waterfall. Waking up before the sun was worth it last week, as we chased the dawn to Letchworth State Park to make and eat a delicious meal along the rim of the “Grand Canyon of the East.” Yes, some people got frostbite (or felt like it, anyway), but it was a beautiful morning with beautiful fellowship. Our special guests were Richard and Amber Lane, and as we gave them the Lamplighter Ministries ‘experience’, they turned around and abundantly blessed the rest of us with their godly testimonies and insight! The time they spent sharing and investing in us made their presence a huge highlight of our week.
A recipe for fun that we’ve been enjoying is as follows: Mix together one ball and a lot of people; a healthy amount of yelling, applause, and good-natured name-calling; sprinkle in some pond wading (after said ball); stir in tremendous triumphs and (over)dramatic defeats, and out comes an invigorating pastime called ‘volleyball’. Many of us have whipped up this recipe on a weekly basis, with such satisfactory results as sore muscles, hoarse voices, closer friendships, and lots of smiles.
In the meantime, Proverbs Class has taken us on enlightening side quests through Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, and Choreography has us jumping, dancing, and improving to our hearts’ content.
The thought plickens—I mean, the plot thickens—or rather, our Dinner Theatre ‘who-dun-it’ is coming right along; and if the amount of laughing that happens during every rehearsal means anything, it will bring a lot of joy to our audience! Last Saturday saw us wandering up and down random streets, canvassing two towns for this event. Mount Morris should have our poster memorized by now.
Amongst all the above, there have been many moments of stretching. Many curveballs and unforeseen announcements. Many question marks about the next week, day, hour.
It’s been good for me, and I think for us all, to gain experience in ‘acceptance without question’. And not so that we might be ready for Dr. Hamby’s latest adventure, but so we will be ready to answer ‘Yes, Lord,’ when our Master calls for us to step off our sidewalks and onto the unknown trail of His making. If we trust the people here at Lamplighter to ‘give good gifts’ to us, we can fully depend upon the Lord to ‘give good things’ to those who follow Him (Matt. 7:11; Jam. 1:17)—no matter how unexpected the next journey may be!
-Christiana Thomas