My wife and I recently spent a week of vacation with our two children, their spouses, and grandkids. What a great time! We enjoyed a variety of activities but one stands out in particular. Our daughters sat in chairs mounted inside an open capsule that rested in-between two truss towers. Each tower rose probably 80 feet from the ground and were 50 feet apart. Long bungee straps connected to a cable rose to each tower from each side of the capsule. A man turned on a motor that pulled the cables down through the towers stretching the bungee straps like a giant sling shot. A metal bar held the capsule back until the bungee straps were tight. As this process began, one of my son-in-laws asked my wife, “What does it feel like to have all your eggs in one basket?” My wife tried to smile. Then the operator hit a lever. In an instant my kids were launched far beyond the top of the towers. Then... they fell, only to reload the bungee straps and up they went again, twisting and turning. Microphones attached to their helmets provided up close and personal sound for everyone to hear— not that they were necessary. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard screaming like that… a strange mixture of petrified fear and hysterical laughter.
When it’s all over it isn’t so much about the ride. It’s about whether they made it through. As worship leaders it’s easy to get caught up in the ride associated with our ministry function. There’s no doubt it can be exciting. But I like what Mark Roberts said recently in the July / August 2012 Worship Leader article titled “Walking the Fine Line of Worship Leading”. He began by quoting 1 Thess. 2:19-20 “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” Roberts went on to comment, “Paul’s true success in ministry, indeed, his glory, has to do not so much with what he did as with what he facilitated in the church God had entrusted to him.” That perspective must never be lost.
God is good,
Tim Covert
