The Earth Sings About Him

You’ve often heard me say that in many ways Corvallis still feels like home.  Perhaps because that’s where my romance with Christ really took off, where my walk with Him deepened. Perhaps because that’s where Jeff and I met, married, and worked side-by-side in full-time ministry.  We labored there. Truly labored, for hundreds of college men and women to know Christ more. I feel like my heart is poured out there, on the sidewalks and the streets and the coffee shops. There are little bits of me here and there, memories as strong as if they’d been today.  The old fraternity where Jeff proposed.  The Red Horse coffee shop where I met with every college girl I could get to open a Bible.  There are people there with whom we’ve walked through great tragedies.  We’ve cried together, prayed together, waited together, battled together.  We’ve been on our faces together, desperately seeking God for His kingdom to come.

We drove down Saturday for the bridal shower of…my daughter. Yes, beautiful Sarah Westfall, soon to be Mrs. Ian Nelson.  Almost five years ago she played my daughter in the play Tilly.  That production and the ministry that went with it was probably one of the most impacting and significant things I’ve ever done in my life.  And now, my little daughter is marrying the guy who played my son (her brother)!!  But at the shower I sat in a room filled with girls I’ve watched grow, with women I’ve watched, emulated, gleaned from.  I sat with women whose faith in Christ is so remarkable it’s only something I can dream of.  I sat with the producer of the plays, who I worked with all the years in Corvallis (whose husband just sold our house!).  We spend countless hours praying, planning, crying, blocking, choreographing, picking music…oh my goodness.  So much history.

Then we spent the afternoon with some of our dearest friends, Adam & Grace Poole, and their four boys.  Grace and I were best friends in college, and now Adam and Jeff have become closest friends. They are probably two of the most likeminded guys; Adam challenges Jeff in all ways. They read books together and challenge each other.  A kinship that is so rare and so precious.

Then Saturday night we stayed at our old house (that just sold! We figured it was silly to get a motel when we own a home there!) It was our first home, and we hadn’t stayed there for more than five years.  We brought sleeping bags and camped out on the floor, memories sweeping over me as I lay trying to fall asleep. The night we got the keys, and drove over with paint cans and sparkling cider, painting the walls into the night, sipping cider and dreaming about our life together.  Our first Christmas morning, snuggling by the fire.  The phone call that invited us to move to San Jose. The day we walked away from the house, pulling away in our Uhaul, tears silently slipping down my cheeks as I tried to be brave. 

And this morning we went back to our old church home, Calvary Corvallis.  Though now somewhat foreign, in a new building with many new people, after checking the kids in I walked outside and the familiar voice of Ryan Smith floated through the outdoor amphitheater and carried me back to hundreds of worship times, and carried me forward into the presence of God.  We found our dear friends, Aaron and Candi (the couple who moved to San Jose with us), who had brought a blanket for us to sit on (knowing that we’d forget), and within moments I was there, sitting in the presence of God, lost in Him.  Though the service was nothing special, it was powerful: just Ryan alone on his guitar, Pastor Rob simply preaching the Word chapter by chapter and verse by verse, with more resolute conviction than ever, communion, offering, an invitation to receive Christ (with several people responding!), and the service closing with a baptism for anyone who wanted to come right then, dressed in their clothes, and make a public declaration to follow Jesus.  Of course afterward I felt like we had a hundred people to see, but soon Heidi was hungry and I snuck away to feed her in the car…then saw another dear friend, now a missionary to Indonesia but home on furlough, and she snuck into the car and caught up while I fed Heidi.

And then we left.  Tired, hot, hungry…but full.  So refreshed. So filled and ministered to.  So blessed.  So reminded of our glorious Savior and His amazing love for us.  So reminded of His glory and His kingdom and how He wants to come down and change us.  So aware that everything on earth sings about the glory of God.  As we drove, the kids slept and Jeff and I turned on the worship music and listened to one of my new favorite songs, My Romance by Melissa Wise:

Look at the way the flowers bloom for You
They want to show You their beauty Lord
Running waters dance, You and I romance

Chorus:
Unto You be all the glory.
Unto You be all the glory (repeat)

Bridge:
The angels dance around You
The earth it sings about You
Open up the heavens Lord
Let Your Kingdom come to earth

my praises all surround you
my soul can’t dance without you
open up the heavens Lord
let Your kingdom come to earth

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Don’t get me wrong.  Jeff and I are exactly where we want to be and exactly where God has us. You couldn’t pay me enough money in the world to leave the work God is doing, to leave our family at WCC.  I love it. And I love them.  But I’m thankful for little times of refreshing where God takes us away from our usual routine, and gives us a glimpse of His glory. Using people, using scenery, using memories, using music.  The earth sings about Him. He is so glorious. The angels dance around Him. The flowers bloom for Him.  My soul can’t dance without Him.  And my prayer is that God would open up the heavens and let His kingdom come to earth.