Not as Tired as I Thought I'd Be

Well the big event that the commitee I co-chair has been planning since August has come and gone. We offered awareness information and training for Disabilities Ministries. All in all it was a success. I wish we had better attendance, but this was the first one and lots of people don't get why this is important. We had wonderful worship with band from home church including G&T and Dogblogger, liturgical dance choreographed and danced by a teenager with Downs Syndrome, and a sign choir. I delivered the message which was well received. We followed worship with breakout sessions on accessiblity, evangelism, and starting ministries. Our keynote speaker after lunch was someone who suddenly lost her sight just a few years ago. Feedback from the participants was very good. The committee was awesome at taking responsibility for their various parts and being really helpful in general. I want to feel exhilarated, but I don't. I'm working on figuring out why.

I am however, not nearly as tired as I thought I would be. This event fell in the middle of 10 weeks of go, go, go with lots of travel, projects, and deadlines. I have next weekend basically off from work/church events, but the two following will be hectic on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Hospitality Team at church (which I lead) is planning a church-wide focus on prayer, welcoming, and invitation for Lent. This means we are working hard to get several things in place this week. One of those is a prayer/action guide inviting church members to add some disciplines around hospitality rather than giving something up for Lent. Another is a "hospitality moment" for each Sunday worship during Lent. One thing that did happen today is our "Information Station" was up and running. Our hospitality team member who is also on the furnishings committee for our new building found a great portable bar that works great as long as we don't put the foot rails on it. Good height, storage for brochures, gift bags... We started our big hospitality push with a Saturday morning training on Radical Hospitality just after the first of the year. It was exciting to see one of the ideas that came from that session come to fruition. More are on the way...

Well, bedtime has come and I'm perhaps more tired than I thought I was at the beginning of this post. I hope your week brings you joy.