Rejoice with Joy Unspeakable: Taylor Invite

Four Thirty at Morton church. That is when we were to leave for Taylor Missouri. We were all proud to have gotten on the road at five. My van (which I was able to use after all) took Anni, Jessica, Hannah Roeker, and Susanna Thames. The other van had Hannah Thames, Brenna Waibel, Brett Hoerr, Austin Endress, and Caleb. Quite the crowd, huh? The drive was more or less uneventful. We played i pod karaoke and listened to loud music. We arrived just in time to hear the tail end of the last song at around 8:30. We settled into the backrow and heard a short message about the weekends theme: Revival, and theme verse: "Create in me a clean heart, o God, and RENEW a right spirit within me." from Psalm 51. After that was the chaotic time of trying to find everyone a place to sleep for the night. We were all invited to Alex and Aubrey Hoerrs (their parents are Scott and Anna Hoerr). The Hoerr's place always ends up to be the most crowded and most fun, and I would venture to say that this year was no different. We had 20 some girls sleeping in the basement. Saying that the floor was covered with sleeping bags and people is almost an understatement. The girls there were mostly younger than me, but they were all so much fun and lively.
Saturday was the work day. Guess what time we had to be AT the fellowship hall that morning? Did you guess 8:00 Am? well you were wrong. We had to be there and ready to work at 7. I believe we got 4 hours of sleep that night. Luckily their was plenty of coffee at the fellowship hall. After having a light breakfast of doughnuts and fruit we were assigned our jobs. There were 11 jobs in all including putting up a roof at the Sutter's TLC facility, patching and shingling some other roofs, landscaping for some elderly widows, clean up at some houses, work on the new fellowship hall and the church basement, and painting a fence. I was originally put on a team that would go to an old lady, not from the church, to give her a hand with yardwork and housework. Just as we were getting ready to leave I noticed Anni was the only girl in her group, how awkward would that be! So I quickly switched and ended up going to the Maple Lawns Nursing home instead. Once their we checked out our job: painting an old double sided fence to make it look like new. Unfortunatly there were only enough brushes for half of our group to paint, so the other half, me included, went into the home to visit with some residents. I'll be honest, though I did enjoy talking to the elderly about their breakfasts, I was a little sad that I wasn't going to be doing any "real work". We visited for about and hour and found out that the daily Bingo game was at 10:00 so we joined in on the fun. I haven't played Bingo since I was little. Luckily, Thelma, the lady next to me, walked me through it all and announced proudly whenever I got a bingo. We had an hour of that and then another hour of visiting, more amongst ourselves than to the napping elderly. Finally around 1:30 we were told it was time for the groups to switch jobs and we egearly grabbed buckets and brushes to tackle that fence. When we got outside we found out that a couple of the boys spent the entire time drawing pictures on the fence than actually painting. So all that time and we had over half of the fence left to do and only two hours left to do it in. My group was definitely harder working than the first. We even had one kid who had worked as a painter for the summer. He was a perfectionist. Anyway, we were on the last section when we began to feel some rain drops. Quickly we wrapped things up and prepared to head off. I must say, the fence looked mighty good after we were through.
We went back to the fellowship hall to get our cars and my van and went our separate ways for a couple of hours. My first destination was the Hoerr's for a warm shower and a nap. The nap never happened, but we had some fun times talking and sharing stories of the day.
Next it was back to the fellowship hall for some supper. The original plan for the evening was to set up a volleyball net and play some ultimate frisbee and other games, but the rain just couldn't hold off for that. So, we ended up having a nice evening socializing inside the warmth of the fellowship hall. After a supper of cheeseburgers, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, salad, fruits, and coffee, the tables were cleared away and the chairs were set up for a singing and a Bible study. The singing was great and the message was powerful. The speaker had me hanging on every word as I tried to soak up every bit of information said about Revival and Christ. He finished up and we sang a few more songs from the Hymns of Zion and said a prayer. I didn't think my heart could feel more renewed until we went to the basement for a praise singing. The volume and beautiful sounds that came from that room were just amazing. Even more amazing was being able to give glory and honor to our God together as a body of believers. That evening was such a blessing.
Exausted we went back to the Hoerr's around 10:00 pm. Of course we didn't go to bed until much later. We snacked on giant (not just big, GIANT) marshmellows and goldfish and talked. At the Hoerr's it is Taylor tradition to go on a midnight walk around the neighborhood. It was about fifty to fourty degrees outside and I was so tired, I just couldn't make myself go. Me and a couple other party poopers just went downstairs to talk. I layed down just to close my heavy eyes for a little bit, expecting that, if I do fall asleep, I'll be woken up by the girls when they came back from the walk. Nope. I slept right through the night as sound as can be.
Sunday morning, and we were to meet at the fellowship hall at 8 am. Got to sleep in that morning. We had a nicer breakfast at the fellowship hall of casserole, cinamon roles, frozen fruit cups, and, of course, coffee. After breakfast we practiced some songs for the church. Those songs were Revive us Again, Create in me a Clean Heart, Ten Thousand Angels, and Light the Fire. Practice went well, and we all crossed the parking lot to go to churhc after. We went downstairs to sing with the Sunday school first then back up stairs to worship in the sanctuary. It was so crowded that we were practically sitting on top of eachother. It was such a blessing to look around and see God's house full to the brim. The sermon was spectacular. God was really moving in that place and we were sorry to see the minister sit down at the end. We went out to have lunch and the volume in the room grew and grew to a steady roar of chatting. Fellowshipping that afternoon with the people of the Taylor church and the 200 some kids that came to the invite was just awesome.
The Holy Spirit once again filled the sanctuary during second service and we were moved to hear such a powerful message. Then came my favorite part: Greetings. I have a notebook that I take notes from the sermons in and on the back page I have been tallying up the greetings given from every Sunday. The notebook is a year old and it was fun to look back at how many greetings were given last year on the same day. Well, this Sunday there was a total of 26 churches represented, the exact same amount as last year!
Next the entire group of 200 some kids filed out of the pews to stand at the front of the church and sing the songs we'd rehearsed. I have shivers just remembering how beautifully those songs were sung and how moved we all were to praise God in such a way. Tears could not be held back as we sang Ten Thousand Angels. If you've never heard or sung the song, you are missing out, but here are the lyrics.
Ten Thousand Angels

They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where He prayed; They led Him thro' the streets in shame. They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin; They said, "Crucify Him; He's to blame."

Refrain He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world and set Him free. He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, for you and me.

Upon His precious head they placed a crown of thorns; They laughed and said, "Behold the King!" They struck Him and they cursed Him and mocked His holy name All alone He suffered everything.

Refrain He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world and set Him free. He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, for you and me.

When they nailed Him to the cross, His mother stood nearby, He said, "Woman, behold thy son!" He cried, "I thirst for water," but they gave Him none to drink. Then the sinful work of man was done.

Refrain He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world and set Him free. He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, for you and me.

To the howling mob He yielded; He did not for mercy cry. The cross of shame He took alone. And when He cried, "It's finished," He gave Himself to die; Salvation's wondrous plan was done.

Refrain He could have called ten thousand angels To destroy the world and set Him free. He could have called ten thousand angels, But He died alone, for you and me.

Everyone was in tears at the end of the song. It was truly a blessing.

We ended the weekend with a few games of frisbee and football after church and a quick supper. We hit the road at about 5:00 and came home at a decent enough hour to get a good nights rest to prepare for school the next day.