bliss

Do you ever have one of those days where everything comes together, the planets are aligned, the sun shines just a little brighter than normal, and you feel the reason why you were set on this earth?

Today was one of those days.

So, this weekend, Friday night and Saturday all day, I was at the Hillsong United Conference here in Orlando. It wasn't a gathering of sedate, prim-and-proper Christians, as one might expect if you haven't experienced Hillsong United. Imagine a space jam-packed with about 6000 high school and college age people, hair colors of the entire rainbow spectrum, body surfing, mosh pits, and every voice singing at its loudest, and you might get an idea of what it was like. It was completely incredible. I spent most of the weekend jumping up and down with arms raised. I was on some sort of adrenaline kick. Moreover, I got the spiritual kick-in-the-ass refresher I'd been hoping for. You know those days when your spiritual walk just gets... lackluster? The relationship is not so much there any more on your end? You open up your Bible and feel... dry? That was a good summary of the past few months for me. I hate feeling that way. It makes for some very hollow-feeling Sundays, particularly when you are supposed to be leading others in worship.

Saturday night, post-conference, my body begins to realize that I am not 18 years old any more. (Okay, I'm not 80 years old, but still.) From all of my jumping, I had massively sore calves. From all my hand/arm-raising, I had very sore shoulders. And from the complete lack of sleep and the emotion of the past 24 hours, I was simply spent. Even a stop at the 'Bucks couldn't get me going again.

Morning comes. I am toast. I was even later than normal to get to church for morning worship rehearsal. I nearly passed out from exhaustion during sound check. I didn't know how the service was going to go: there were several of us who had been at the conference, and we all looked equally whipped. When our levels are low, the crowd feeds right off of that.

Ah, but I worried in vain.

That morning was one of the best worship experiences I have ever had. The rest of the team - and the church, in fact - felt the same way. Everything flowed exactly as it should. We weren't just playing the chords and singing the words - we were in the zone. People came up to us after the service, not to say "oh, you sang so pretty" or "that guitar solo rocked" but "I really felt it today" and "the worship brought me to a new place". And I walked out of there with my heart full and hands high, thinking this is what it's supposed to be like.

Sundays are my favorite days.