I never know what messages you are hearing from others, from yourself, from the voice of the deceiver.

My nephew David made the ideal, last-minute case for our family picture the night before we moved to Costa Rica two and a half years ago.

I love words! They unlock meaning if you study them out. A word recently blew up in my face.

There was a famous golfer who was visiting the king of a country. The king wanted to give him a gift, so he asked him what he liked.

We were enjoying a couple of days at the beach with some new friends, Dan and Chloe. On the final morning, they invited us to try surfing.

As followers of Christ, we have been given a spirit of power, a spirit of love, and a spirit of self-control. We have not been given spirits of fear.

Stop me when this sounds familiar. I got a text from a worship director. It said, “I wanted to tell you that my wife felt ill and tested positive for COVID, so tomorrow I can’t be with you.”

I sat in a meeting surrounded by 18 other worship team members from our church.

We made it! 2020 is 99% in the rearview mirror. Phew!

I want to invite you into hope. Into a world with less anxiety. Into a less distracted, more purposeful, wildly optimistic living.

This year has been both a punch to the gut and a kick in the pants. How are you responding?

Losing our normal, hurts. We had rhythms. We had reasonably certain expectations. How should we, as worshiping Christians, grieve our loss of normalcy?

I love worshiping with blind trust.

What am I taking to heart?

What has been getting me out of bed on these cold, dark winter mornings?

Maybe you’re a worship leader who is caught in the unrelenting cycle of leading weekly worship gatherings while managing songs, arrangements, schedules, teams, relationships, and life.

You feel the need for... 

• A deep walk with God (Intimate, Consecrated, Scripture-soaked)

• A deep love for people (Shepherd, Launcher, Encourager, Leader)

• A deep understanding of music (Listener, Craftsman, Fluent)

I was leading Sunday morning worship at this church. I greeted the assembled worshipers and… got back a very wimpy response. I felt like I was looking at a room of corpses.

So I had this experience where I realized that I had been lulled to sleep. Maybe you can relate to this, because I had forgotten that God is actually steadfast. He’s actually good. He’s actually all-powerful. He’s actually able to do what He said He would do.

What’s your worship team like? And by “worship team,” I mean the musicians and techs together.

Are you like a Worship Family? A Worship Indie Band? A Worship Elevator? Let me describe each one.

In the middle of your day. When you’re too busy to stop. When the pressure of the moment is all you can feel. When your dryness defines you. When you lack in zeal in serving the Lord.