Crossway, Creative Kids Camp and Sleep Deprivation

Well I haven't posted a blog for the last couple of weeks because I've been away with no internet access. I have to say I had a great time, but I'm certainly ready for a rest. Unfortunately there's no time. I'm working today, got an assignment due by the end of the week and I'm madly hunting down an exam venue for November. I've also got 2 music assessments right on top of each other this week and next, which will require much practice.

So Crossway...

Long days and far from home, but it was fantastic. It was an eye opening and heart focusing event that showed me a thing or two and brought about an epiphany or three. Hearing Edmund Chan speak, along with Paul Borden and Danny Guglielmucci was fantastic. All three tied in very, very well. They were clearly on the same wavelength. Ann Chan, wife of Edmund, was equally as insightful.

The sessions learning from the Creative Ministries pastor, Tim Piesse, were incredibly beneficial. They were very thought provoking and gave me a foundation to be able to put together a few ideas for our own worship team to implement down the road. At the same time, it was great to interact with the members of Crossway's worship team to discuss various issues and directions. Tim also asked me to email through copies of the songs I've written, so I'll have to get to that as soon as the mixing is completed... hopefully by the end of this week.

It was good to be able to spend some time with other members of the church that I don't know as well as I perhaps should. So that was also beneficial. The drive home was a good chance to debrief with Brad & Katrina.

Home for a few days... painting a building at Mackala's school on the Monday public holiday, which wrote that day off, and then shot down to Victor Harbor for the Creative Kids Camp. Thankfully, my family were able to come down with me for a few days, so I actually got to see them... kind of. I was pretty busy while I was down there with performing my duties as a leader, so I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with them, but it was nice for them to be around and to be able to give my kids a hug and play with them for a while when I could.

I got a bit up tight at one stage, but I kept relatively calm... and after that it was all good fun. Most of the kids put in while they were down at the camp. Of course, one or two stragglers tagged along, but on the whole they were a good bunch of kids. Even the "not so good" kids were good, they just didn't know how to relate very well. It was good to see some of those kids being able to make a connection with some of the other kids or some of the leaders.

I was most impressed by a little girl named Piper who would only be about 9 or so. She tried her heart out in the vocal electives and in her dance elective. It was beautiful to watch the surprise come over her face when she was awarded the Return Scholarship to the camp next year at the camp concert on Friday night. She was just so happy and humble about the whole thing, it was really beautiful. Her cousin, Coco, who doesn't attend a church, tried her heart out in my vocal elective and so I felt compelled to give her the vocal award. I hope she is able to go along next year. It'd be great to see her get along to a church and build a relationship with church folk and then Jesus all because of a life changing experience she had at a camp that I had a part in.

In all of this, I had hardly any sleep... and now I've got a massive headache and the threat of a coldsore on my upper lip. It's just sitting there ready to explode into a fuly fledged sore at any given moment. I'm trying to knock it on the head early, but without much success I'm afraid so far.