Vespers.

For the last three years, I've played acoustic guitar/sang for Vespers, an hour of contemporary information worship at my church every Sunday night during the school year. Mainly college students attend, but we do pull in a few adults from the working world once in awhile.

As long as I can remember, I've wanted to be part of a band. Thus far, the dreams that actually have come to fruition in my life, whether small or large, haven't played out like I originally thought they would. The 'band' dream is no different.

This week God showed me how much I've grown in the last few years by being part of the Vespers band- both in my musical ability and my attitude towards leading worship. There were weeks in college that I'd play my guitar for 10+ hours, including church, Cru and Vespers worship times, and practicing for all of those things. My junior year I probably logged over 200 hours playing my guitar, most of which was during group practices. I'm quick to admit I'm not real great, but I'm a whole lot better than when I started, that's for sure.

But even more than my growing ability, my attitude toward musical worship has greatly changed. While originally I wanted to join the Vespers Band just to make music and be apart of the band with some cool people (and also to worship God, but that reason was smaller than the others), I find myself now not really caring about my personal enjoyment or any type of gain from the time of worship. It's about God, and providing an opportunity for others to worship God. Sometimes I just pick up my guitar and worship God in the privacy of my own home, but not everyone can do that. It's my hope that Vespers is a blessing for those who connect with God through musical worship (which is way above another other option on my chart, so typically I do really enjoy it!)

I had a weird ear issue last week in which I couldn't really hear the band at all, but I sang and played anyway, with the hope that people would be able to connect with God, even if I couldn't feel His presence like I usually do. But despite being able to hear well, I felt His presence there without a doubt. Sometimes it seems the only constant thing in life is that God will work unexpectedly!