Rain, Rain, Come today...

I'm a musician...

Well, a singer really. A singer who happens to play guitar.

Anyway, I'm the Worship Pastor at a small church in Roseville CA... Bayside Central. I've been out here in good ol' Cali for the past 6 months, and my family joined me about 3 months ago. We moved from Atlanta Georgia (Go Dawgs!) and to say the least, it's different here.

I think I know why the humidity is so low in CA... It must be because it rains once every 50 years or so.

Seriously, in six months, it's rained twice, and for about a total of 10 minutes. In GA, it rains 5-10 times a week in the summer (and it's still considered drought conditions). The rain is warm... it cools everything down, and we go sit on the porch and drink sweet tea and eat lemon pie (or something like that) So last week when the weather lady said rather casually..."Tomorrow expect cloudy skies with a chance of rain..." I had to rewind the DVR to see if I heard her right.

The next day as the clouds rolled in, I looked out the window as if I were waiting for Christmas morning (or my paycheck). By late afternoon, there was no rain... The clouds were starting to break up, and I lost hope.

The thought even crossed my mind to get the kids together... bang on a drum of some kind, and do a little dance in the back-yard. Silly, right?
As if I could control the rain... I can't control my stomach all the time, let alone a force of nature. I think that's silly, and I'm sure you think it is as well... But I do this all the time. Not with rain, mind you.

I'm a musician. A musician who happens to lead people in worship. That's a big job when you think of the audience... and sometimes I get up on stage and perform my heart out. I invite God to come to this "concert", and just hope that He's pleased with my efforts...

So when I woke up Sunday morning with no voice... I mean NO voice, I was stumped. I prayed to God... "Please give me a voice so that I might bring You into our presence... How can I create an atmosphere that you will be a part of if I can't sing?" It seemed like a valid concern at the time. But then I thought about the rain.

Is that really my job? To "bring the rain"? Do I wake up on Sunday, and walk into church, and sing songs and pray and clap and dance and... MAKE God come down? How arrogant is that?!

God smacked me in the vocal chord and said... "Scott, don't be stupid. There's nothing you can say, do, sing, clap, ANYTHING to make me be a part of the show. The condition just has to be right... You show up. You show up in my name, and so will I."

What a relief it is that we're not in control. We can't squeeze rain out of dry clouds by doing some silly dance... I think it's important that we realize that our job as worshippers is just that... to worship. To celebrate our guest of honor. If we just draw closer to Him... He draws nearer to us. That's it.

The worship this past Sunday was excellent, by the way. God showed up (like He always does) and I had absolutely nothing to do with it... What a relief.