Last night, a pastor said "God has a certain way of reminding us of how weak we really are." Today, I get to ponder firsthand the reality of that statement. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound ... that saves a wretch like me. Lord, let me not run away from you, but straight into your arms. I went to a black (african american) church last night, and it was awesome. I didn't expect it; heck I had no idea what I was walkin into. But God is cool and he authors the paths of his children. There's a powerful grabbing-on-to-God faith, a Lord-I-need-you-so-badly intensity that black churches tend to have. The service was overall going pretty nicely, all were having a good time, worshiping God, doing what we do in church. About halfway thru, things got a bit ... different. One organ, one drum set, and a hundred hungry souls = wow. The choir wound up a beautiful beautiful recklessly powerfully raw (thanks Grace) song of praise, and afterward, everyone just kept clapping and dancing with the organ and drums. Man, talk about a Holy Ghost party. The Holy Spirit was really moving in us and among us. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom," and God was moment by moment freeing and unrestraining our souls to cry out to him and get with him. Things get serious when people are unashamed to get undignified before God. I love praising God with song and dance and lifted hands, but last night really brought something fresh and new into my life that I'll not soon forget. Sometimes in church, its easy to be self-conscious, as a result, I try not to worry about the people around me and tune out to focus on and engage with God. Last night's experience was more about noticing the people around you actually brings you into focus with God ... joining into the stream of rejoicing - all pointed heavenward. There's something so beautiful - such an overwhelming awareness of a greater Glory. Instead of becoming small in order that God will be big - anxious of drawing attention to ourselves, instead, God is so real and so big, so awesome and so glorious, that we can freely praise God however the Holy Ghost is moving on us, and none of our individuality is stripped away, instead is magnified to the glory of God. And none of the glory is taken from the Lord, and how could it be, when the Lord is so glorious? Yeah. Awesome. Of course, needless to say, there's different strengths and revelations within different streams of the Body of Christ. I'm so glad and blessed to have participated in last night's service. Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn ... because to those who are most broken with sin and pain will receive the grace of God to a greater degree. As a subculture in America, black people have had to deal with a lot of hardship. The quality of faith that has risen from the testing in the furnace of affliction - the quality of faith that has risen out of necessity, is apparent. Awesome. Thank you Lord for what you're doing. By your grace, Lord, pour out that intensity - the mighty power of rejoicing and thanksgiving in the face of trials, pour it onto your entire body. So intense ...