Our new website has just gone live a few hours ago! I can't help but reflect on my own 'Worship is Life' journey over the last five years; not just the journey of establishing our 'Worship is Life' ministry, but my own personal journey of how the truth of 'Worship is Life' has impacted my relationship with God and others.
I think what our world has labeled as a 'mid-life crisis' is simply describing what Solomon realized when he wrote in Ecclesiastes that "everything is meaningless". It seems that it takes most of us getting to our forties or fifties when we finally realize that if we try to find our identity and security in anything or anyone other than relationship with God, we eventually learn that everything else is meaningless.
This discovery has led my definition of worship to simply be worship equals relationship; restored relationship with God which translates into restored relationship with others. This is truly the purpose of life...everything else is meaningless.
For many years I thought my relationship with God ran pretty deep. It wasn't till he called me out of thirty years of church staff ministry into this traveling teaching ministry that I discovered some vital areas of my relationship with God were frighteningly shallow. I thought I looked to him alone as the source of who I was but boy was I wrong. I was sure I trusted him as the source of my provision but I was sadly mistaken.
As I was shocked into the reality of needing to lean into who God is like never before, I also became aware of how short I fell when it came to relationship with others. As an introverted and detail-oriented soul, I was quite content to be mindful of my family and some close friends. Leaning into God helped me not only love them more selflessly, but caused me to be more aware of everyone else around me as well.
As God has used this new calling on my life to unwind my insecurities strand by strand that have evidently clung to me for decades, I couldn't be more thankful for his unfailing kindness to graciously bring me on this journey. While I have a long way to go I can honestly say I have grown in my relationship with God and others. I am amazed and honored how God is taking my journey of relationship and allowing it to strengthen the church to grow his kingdom. Worship is Life!