I started to write something the other evening and have not had the full unction to get it out of the oven yet. It simmers on yet another page waiting for me to figure out what it was I was feeling and trying to say about it.

So, rather than not write anything, I will tackle something I am sure I can finish in an evening. That, after all, is what this blogging stuf is supposed to be all about in the first place. A discipline of sorts—a place to get it figured out and move on to the next page.

The point of what I am writting is that for the past few days, Sandi and I have been in the places that we were meant to be in. Even when the place that we visited was not really all that we went to find—just the fact that we were in that place, an exchange that was needful took place. In the trip down the parkway of our lives, we shared a mile marker with some people and also got a glimpse of people at other mile markers. That analogy came from a friend of mine named Alan Smith.

I called him up the other day and told him I was still in the process of looking for my tribe—that group of people who know me and I in turn know them.

He said the mile marker thing was as close as he has gotten—and that it is a good thing when you can share that marker with someone else and also see people from a distance at other mile markers along the way. What he said was a little more profound but I can’t remember all the subtleties at this point.

Suffice it to say—Sandi and I continued our journey this past weekend. On friday night we attended a local school of the spirit sponsored by Morningstar church out of Wilkesboro. It was one of those evenings where they had a guest speaker and one guy playing the guitar for worship. The speaker had some good things to say but the focus of the evening, or why we were there was the guy doing worship. It was not audience friendly in the sence that he had an overhead projector with song lyrics or that he even sang anything that we could sing along with. The point is that he got into the presence of God and as a result paved a way for us to be there as well.

Getting into God’s presence provoked some good thoughtful meditation and we both came away the better for it. We could have stayed home and watched television, but made the decision to visit and even though the evening was not spectacular, it was used by God to draw us closer to Himself.

Saturday night I took part in what us Emmaus walk types call a “Gathering”. It is a time when the local Emmaus community comes together to share a meal, some praise and worship, a short talk and communion. The group was medium sized, about 45 people and felt really good that evening. There was just something in the atmosphere that bode good things. I lead the worship time and found a great deal of fulfillment in being allowed to use a gift that I have been given by God. I gave something of myself and received something in return. I was supposed to be there just as I was supposed to be at that Friday night meeting.

Sunday morning, Sandi suggested we head to Wilkesboro, North Carolina and take in the Morningstar service held there. It is only a 25 minute drive and as we pulled into the parking lot we were met by another couple from Boone who had also come for the service. They used to go to a big church in Boone but have been attending Morningstar for some time now. They looked a little surprised to see us and after a brief chat went their way.

The praise and worship leader was Leonard Jones from the Charlotte Morningstar church and as you can imagine things were very lively and very upbeat in that arena. The message was alright, but not the point of why we were there.

A couple we have known for a long time (I was born again in their living room in 1979) asked Sandi it they could pray for us before we left. So, after the service and some chitter chat with some other people we know—we were prayed for by this couple who have been somewhat pastorally involved in our lives for 25+ years. It was really one of those times when the heavens and the earth collide. What they prayed could not have been any more appropriate. In not so many words, they cancelled any bad stuff that has occurred over the past several years and released us into the good stuff—the stuff of our destiny in God. In oter words, it was meaningful and full of grace and understanding.

After the service we stopped at Subway and got some subs and then found a picnic table in a motel not far away to eat our lunch. It was about 70 degrees in the middle of March.

So we came home, enjoyed our afternoon and then went to our “regular” church meeting at 5 pm. We are a new church and still in the nomadic phase of our existence and so we meet at the local Best Western Motel. A husband and wife
couple from a sister church in Hickory come up to Boone to bless us with their praise and worship.

They sing and play guitar so I fit right in with my mandolin and djembe. And as I started this blog entry with: it was the place I was supposed to be. Lo and behold: I actually sang as I played the drum. This is not as easy as it sounds and generally I don’t sing when I play an instrument. But on this day I did. I enjoyed myself. Even though this is just a part of who I am and where I am headed. I don’t yet see my final resting place.

I remember a couple of years ago, Sandi and I attended a Friday evening School of the Spirit (SOS) meeting in Wilkesboro at the Morningstar church there. After the preaching, the people prayed for each other and Don Potter. one of the best worship leaders around prayed for me.

As he prayed, he held my hands in his and kind of massaged them ligthly as he prayed. What he prayed was interesting. He said that he saw that I would never retire. At the time I didn’t know what to do with this info and even thought that it might be bad. Not retire…that means I am going to die before that time.

As we were driving home, I had another revelation of the prayer. I would never retire because God was never going to be done with me—until I was no more. I was going to be useful the rest of my life—however long that was to be.

And finally—that is a good place to be.

May our rides take us to those places where we are meant to be.