Yesterday, I posted this quote:

The difficult must become habitual.
The habitual must become natural.
The natural must become beautiful.
The beautiful will become magical.

Monday night I was at a parent’s meeting for marching band.  James will have the opportunity to be in marching band as an eighth grader next year.  The above quote was posted above the bulletin board.  I remember when I first showed up at Indiana Wesleyan my profs were concerned.  ”He has a lot of raw talent,” they commented, “but can we refine it?”  The answer was “yes.”  I remember all those voice lessons and choral rehearsals.  Because I was 30 when I began, I had to unlearn bad habits and learn new ones.  Slowly, but surely I was able to put those new habits into practice.  At the end of each semester we would have juries — which are a final for your vocal or instrumental lessons during the semester.  It could be unnerving to sit or stand in front of your professors and perform your pieces.  Many times it did not always feel natural.  Sometimes it didn’t even feel beautiful.  But there were those times, when everything fell together — that it was magical.

If you know me when it comes to music, you will know that I like music to be done right.  I have a high standard.  God deserves our best.  This past Sunday was one of those Sundays that could have been a disaster and yet God met with us in a very special way.  I have chronicled the problems we have been having with our video projector.  Fortunately, it stayed on for the first worship set.  During prayer it shut off.  I called an audible — we had made plans for just such an emergency — We moved to a much more familiar song.   First, I want to give credit to the Holy Spirit.  His presence was felt among us as we sang Sunday.  We were prayed up — we were practiced up.  One of the things that helped is that I was prepared for what happened.  The cool thing was that God was honored and glorified.  We had a great response to the invitation as well.

Because worship was a natural response, we were able to worship even though everything was not quite right.  The Holy Spirit filled in the rest.