Will Your Anchor Drift, or Firm Remain?

     At the 2015 Convention, I led a hymn for the very first time.

 I stood behind the podium.

 It would have been better if I had just stood in front of the podium.


  I was too short to be seen, except for my head.

I chose "We Have an Anchor" for my
song to lead

     I thought I did an "OK" job of it, but I forgot to tell everyone to sing verses 1 and 3.  

Everyone makes mistakes.  

There was this one boy who was WAY better than all the rest of us!  He could really LEAD SONGS! 

  

His arm motions were really big, and he had the whole song memorized!  He looked up the entire time. 

 He won First Place, and I was glad.  I went up and met him after the competition, and shook his hand. 

 I knew he had won.  I am not sure that he did, though.

 this is Me Behind the big podium

      I learned more about song leading at the competition than all of my practice learning.  

You get nervous with all those people in that room.  

I did practice, but I think I needed more practice.  

 I noticed that one boy got REALLY nervous and he could hardly begin.  There was another boy who was doing really well, and he suddenly got a funny look on his face, stopped, and ran out of the room.  I think he got sick.  

That's what ANXIETY can do to someone.

     I'm glad I did not have THAT much anxiety while leading my song.  But I do have other anxieties, like a fear of thunderstorms, and hornets.  

Funny how my song talked about the "anchor that holds in the storms of life."  That is really true.  

When the fears come, my Anchor is 
"grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love."

from flicker.com

"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down,

But a good word makes it glad."

Proverbs 12:25

NASB

This year, I am going to practice a lot 

more for the Song Leading event, and get in front of

 a group more often, so I don't get 

so nervous next year.

  I also want to practice the keeping

 of time with my hand motions

so they are natural and not 

awkward to me. 


All of this is working to make me a better leader, more

committed, and stronger in the Church.  

My First Good Samaritan Act

     A crazy thing happened when we were about to leave the Convention this year.  Just when we were pulling out to go home, a man came up to our Truck.   He told my father that his car battery was dead, and asked if we could help.  And what do you know, my Dad had a jumper cable in his Truck! 

    Then my Dad and I opened both hoods, and we hitched both batteries together to charge the man's battery up.   The man was very grateful!  

     The Good Deed was done, and off we went, on our long journey home.  

We caravaned with our friends from -
church for awhile,
until we got to the Golden Corral,
where we ate lunch.
After that, we broke off from the group
and set off for home. 

     

"Do not neglect to do good, 

and to share what you have, 

for such sacrifices are 

pleasing to God."

Hebrews 13:16