Yesterday, I had the chance to do something different...I attended Church alone. You see the snow has just started to fall in Vermont and there is almost a cult like following of those skiers and riders who want to be among the first (despite the fact that it is typically only one or two runs open and they are a mixture of powder and ice at best). There is something special about sneaking some extra "joy" in your life, experiencing something you love before you are supposed to. It's almost like a dire need to fill up those " joy tanks" because you aren't quite sure when it will happen again. Hitting the slopes even icy slopes, pre-season, is a very personal enjoyment. Yes, you may be with family or friends but it is just you flying over the moguls, its just you making that perfect landing or cutting and turning at your personal best.
What's that got to do with attending church alone? Well for me going alone turned out to be a "sense of unexpected joy" while I missed Juli and the boys I also found a sense of peace being able to concentrate so deeply in worship and praise. There I was, amidst my spiritual family but also feeling alone with God, having my "one on one time" with him. Kinda' like as a child when after you waited in line to see Santa it suddenly is your time to sit on his lap and the whole time your there nothing else in the world seems to exist or matter. For me, I find a deep personal joy in my faith and the really neat thing is that I don't have to sneak away to fill my "joy tanks", and I am learning that I don't need to wait to Sunday mornings to be one on one with God. My God doesn't have a pre-season he is available 24/7,... if I just stop and take a break from my hectic schedule and "be still and know that he is God!".
"Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you." Isaiah 12:6
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