Day one of practice is complete. During this time and the days leading up to it, I always find myself contemplating why on earth I sign myself up for this kind of thing. Hours of practice, late nights, and days living out of a suitcase while the travel days blur together. However, at the end of it all, I find that these days and the people I spend them with are always a highlight of my summer and memories I look back on with great fondness.
Looking beyond the surface and fun times, there is a more important reason for doing things like this. Our title song, ‘Arise, My Soul, Arise’ has been such a good reminder of that to me.
Arise, my soul, arise! Shake off your guilty fears.
The bleeding sacrifice on my behalf appears.
Before the throne my surety stands; my name is written on His hands.
adapted from Charles Wesley
Amen!
The other verses go on to tell the story of Christ’s sacrifice and how because of it, we can draw nigh unto the Father in confidence and boldness. Through the spilling of Christ’s blood, we find forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. It is because of Christ’s sacrifice that I cannot help but sing praise to our God! No sacrifices of time or money can even come close to the worth of Christ’s death on the cross.
God has chosen to give me this opportunity to sing praise to Him over and over these next few days and I pray that it can be a time of mutual worship and praise with all the churches along the way and not a time of drawing attention to myself or the group. We humbly worship him and look forward to the day when we can sing praise to Him in eternity!
– Written by Amanda Diener