Late Night Worship

It's been a few days since I blogged anything because the Janssen family is now on vacation in sunny Southern California visiting Kelly's parents. We took off at about 3:30 p.m. on Monday and drove straight through (975 miles, 17 hours -- whee!).

After about 12:30 a.m. my night-owl family all finally went to sleep and I listened to music as I drove the thrilling I-5 corridor. I had a couple CDs that I had bought recently, one from Third Day and another a worship CD called "Everything Glorious" from the Passion worship band, and I listened to each of them twice. I really enjoyed the first one, and I hope to use a couple of the songs someday for special music at our fellowship. But the second CD was just great for me. It was recorded live with several thousand college students in Texas somewhere, and I was equally moved by the music and the enthusiastic participation by the crowd.

Maybe it's not very exciting for me to blog about myself driving all night. But as a worship pastor I hope everybody occasionally has worship experiences like I had at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. I was trying not to sing too loud so my family could sleep, but my heart was sure fully engaged. I was genuinely moved by the songs as they helped me express to God how great and how good I believe He is!

I hope your worship isn't limited to our gatherings on Sunday mornings. God is searching for worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth, who will love Him with all their hearts, all their souls, all their minds and all their strength. So make time to connect with Him everyday--I promise that your Sunday worship will be much sweeter if you do!

If you're a part of our New Hope family, I've planned some great songs for Dustin and the band to lead while I'm gone, and I'll sure miss worshiping with you! And stay tuned to the blog here and maybe I'll send you some exciting pictures from Disneyland!