First Post: Thoughts from Hall Duty

Well hello everyone! This is my first time to ever do any kind of a blog and I am excited about it. This was my last week as the Assistant Band Director at Robert E. Lee High School and I am so glad it's over. This was finals week for the students and all of the elective teachers were asked to sit in the hallways and monitor in two hour shifts. So, on my way out of my office on my way to hall duty I grabbed one of my old spiral notebooks and headed out. I found a page in the back of the notebook that said "Group Message" at the top and had two sentences written on it. I then remembered that a while back I intended to write out the message that the quartet wanted to convey when we went and sang. So, for the next two hours I wrote out the groups message. These are the thoughts that I scribbled down in an effort to capture what we want to minister to people.

"In this world there are so many things that destroy hope. Often times we find ourselves beaten by darkness and left with the feeling that we have no where to go and no one to turn to. Today's society makes getting outside of our comfort zone uncomfortable and awkward. As Christians, we daily cross paths with people we don't know who have a desparate need of the message of love, peace and joy that we know. If we touched one strangers life everyday for the cause of Christ over the next 10 years we would connect over 3,000 people to the true lover of their souls. Music has connected us in this group as well as all of you in the audience. We do not sing these songs for our self-promotion but instead to touch hearts through the music. We pray that every time we take the stage that God will lead us to the heart of a perfect stranger and that He will open it and allow His message of love and grace to flow out of us and freely into that person's heart.
One of the greatest joys that we have when we go and sing is not our time on stage but the time we get to spend visiting with you before and after the show. We are all young and have not seen as much of life as some people and it is so inspiring to have people share with us the wonders that God has worked in their lives. We would be amazed what we could learn from spending 15 minutes talking with someone we don't know and we would be amaze how much we could teach a person in that same time. The truth is that we were all once strangers from Christ. Until He came into our lives we lived in a world of darkness and sin. But He loved us enough to die for us and give us His love and forgiveness and it is because of that, that we stand here on this stage. If He could love us that much why shouldn't we daily strive to love others the same way? We are called by Christ daily to pick up our cross and follow Him with faith and perseverance. We ask you now that as you continue your walk with Christ that you consider stepping out of your comfort zone and join us in our endeavor to talk to perfect strangers. There is no greater joy we know on this earth than the joy we know in Christ. All it takes to plant a seed in the heart of a stranger is to be Christ in their lives for just one moment. Dear Father, we ask you now to give us a heart of compassion that we might take the joy and love that you have lavished on us and give it to perfect strangers. Father forgive us for passing up opportunities that you have presented to us to reach out, and give us the vision to see our chances in the future. Give us the strength to pass on the good news to everyone you lead us to. We praise you for the music and the message that we are experiencing. We love you Father and we pray these things in your Son Jesus Christ's name. Amen."