Weird

So tonight I turned off my Sunday morning alarm. I turned off the alarm that has gone off at 5:30 am for the last 3+ years. And to some this might seem like a reason to be ecstatic. And believe me...if the circumstances were different and this were a vacation...I would have been ecstatic. But it was just weird...and a little sad. For more than 3 years I have had the awesome opportunity to be a part of a church plant. NewSpring Church affected my life in ways I would have never expected it to. Who would have thought that I would have learned so much?! Not only have I learned what it takes to run a church from behind the scenes, but I have also had the chance apply the biblical guidelines for my life as believer into my real life. I have seen lives changed because of NewSpring. I have seen God use hard times to build character into his earthly kingdom. I have learned deeper what it means to TRULY be committed to Christ and the reason He placed me on this earth. I have learned that having a servants heart and attitude goes further than just being a nice person sitting in the seats on a Sunday morning. And because of that important lesson...God has allowed me to experience the joy of seeing lives changed and that makes me smile...and THAT makes me understand why God puts so much importance in a committment to His standards. On the surface those "standards" might look a lot like rules. But those "standards" have changed my life over the years and those "standards" brought way more joy to my heart than I EVER would have expected. Those joys that I have felt while serving and being committed to NewSpring...are irreplaceable. Yes...church plants are hard...yes it is frustrating sometimes to see people who just don't get it...frustrating being the first to get there on Sunday's and the last to leave...frustrating to see people with the wrong perception of what being committed to the church means...frustrating to see those people who are missing out on what it means to commit to not just a life in Christ, but a life being lived IN Christ. But in the end...it isn't the frustrations that dictate my life...it is the joy I feel knowing that my life has meaning in Christ. That those people that I come in contact with, and that NewSpring had the chance to touch, are able to see Jesus in me. John Piper says in his book Desiring God that "God stands on the far side of the other people in our lives. We can only reach out to him if we reach out to them. We live for them to live for him." NewSpring provided that for me. It provided the opportunity to live for them... NewSpring also put me in contact with some of the planet's most amazingly dedicated, passionate and committed people I have ever known. Kirt and Tyler were amazing leaders. They are godly, but on top of that...they were wildly passionate about NewSpring and it's vision. Through their leadership I was able to see first hand that that type of passion really does exist!! And if I can harness 5% of that then I would be a better person than I was before. They love their families, they love their God, and they loved NewSpring. They gave up a lot at times to dedicate their lives to NewSpring and to follow the calling God placed in their hearts. This is truly amazing. And of course...the band. Oh how I love the NewSpring band. We evolved into an awesome team of people that were committed to one love. We might not have started from day one together...but darn it...we finished strong and we finished as friends. I wouldn't have wanted to spend my early Sunday morning hours and afternoon lunches with any other group than this group that took NewSpring home. They are such talented people...it amazed me at times..and other times I thought...why am I amazed...God made them crazy talented and brought them to NewSpring at the perfect time. I seriously LOVED playing with them for the last year or so. These people are amazing...they are talented...they are passionate and they are my friends. We have weathered many things together both in our personal lives and at NewSpring and yet each Sunday morning...we put all the commotion of life aside to play our freakin' hearts out for God. Each of them oozed love for Jesus and that is inspiring. Our fearless leader, the great TZ... he not only dedicated his life to NewSpring vision, but also to us...personally holding us accountable to higher standards and a deeper love. He genuninely cared about us and wanted life to be good for us. He did soooo much work that we didn't even see. We love that guy. I mean I love that guy because he's the best thing in the entire world for my sister and their little gal. I know that he thinks of them first and that he provides for them always. I know that my sister and Emery will ALWAYS be taken care of and that they will always be lead by a man who love his God first and foremost. I know that when he stands before Christ...he will be rewarded for both his dedication to life in Christ and his leadership and love for his family. While I might have hated him at first because he was stealing my sister from me...I love the guy now. I will miss playing every Sunday with him at the helm. NewSpring touched many lives over the 4 years that it existed. And I am proud to say that I was a part of that. NewSpring is done, but the things I have learned are not. So tonight when I turned off my alarm...it was weird. I layed there in bed for a moment knowing I would miss hearing the alarm and had a few tears for the times that we had together as a team. A team of dedicated NewSpring servants...