A Celebration Of Life

What a night!  A celebration of the goodness of God to Vineyard ReCovery Church.
Lot of "first-timers" there. Hope that they saw the love of God last night. I always tell the folks at the end of our service...."If you don't take anything else away from the meeting tonight......know that God loves you, and so do we!" Had a lot of kids, which is not the norm, but a very much welcomed addition.

Food...
Can you say "food!"....
Cakes, cookies, brownies, and so on and so on. The core group of VRC outdid themselves.
If nothing else, we sugared-up everyone who came through the door, and then sent them back out into the night on a sugar-high. Just kidding. It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves. Making new friends, and running into old ones. (hope no one was hurt.)

Here you can see people stopping by the "drink" table grabbing some soda or coffee. What kind of recovery hosts would we be if we didn't offer coffee. It's the preferred drink of people in recovery across these here Newnited States of 'Merica!"

Lot's of hand shakes and hugs as we engaged in conversation. Helping those who were new to VRC know where everything is. I mean, come on....a body has to know where the bathrooms are, don't they?

Little Miss Zoe! She was kind of taken with all the noise and people milling around. Her mother, Sara, took care of that with a little chocolate. Chocolate will solve any problem you might have. Well, at least that's what my wife tells me".  Asa, Sara, Mykala, and Zoe have been regulars at VRC for a while. Always good to see them.

Here is Zoe's big sister, Mykayla. She is my resident artist at VRC. Each week, during the service, Mykayla draws me a picture, and then presents it to me afterwards. I have a whole collection of "Works By MyKayla" and don't be surprised if they don't become a much sought after work by the art world.
She is truly a blessing to be around. she is energy times ten....something akin to a super ball in a concrete room.

Shortly before worship began, the room was filled with much laughter...conversation....and even some ministry as some sought out prayer for various reasons. It was great to be a part of this night. Very humbled and grateful for the place that God has given to us. Being a down-town church, we have a tremendous amount of walk in traffic looking for help with food and shelter.




So, the worship team took to the stage to lead the group in "take back" songs. These would be songs that we heard on the radio back in the 60's....70's and 80's.  Opened with Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down".....a declaration of our desire to chase this Jesus that has saved us from our sin and addiction.

Grand Funk Railroad's  "Some Kind Of Wonderful"....grabbed everyone as Wayne Wimpee took it to  new level with his harmonica. "Can I get a Witness!!!".

"Get Together" by the Youngbloods was next. "Come on people now...smile on each other, everybody get together, learn to love one another right now".

"I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash, is a celebration of the new vision that God gives to everyone who is saved. A new way of seeing life and the promises that await us as we follow Jesus.

Embracing the love of God as we sang Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey"...."His love is sweet, as Tupelo Honey...He sends His angels of the first degree...His love is sweet, as Tupelo Honey.....awww just like honey child, from the bee."

The last song pretty much sums up a life that has been taken from the darkness of addiction into the light of a new way to live. Learning to trust God. Learning to take our hands off of our troubles to let God work in our life. The Beatles..."Let it be".

Bit lengthy in my post this morning, but hope you caught a glimpse of what Saturday night is all about.

I want to thank Deb Hooks for the photo's of last night hoo-ha!

God on you...
mbb