Almost Through - One Post-Concert Post Left!

Penultimate Entry

July 29

Jetlag has a curious way of interrupting life while one is in the midst of it. Frequent flyers understand this, and come to expect it. It is not usual to suddenly drift off in the middle of the evening news, or to awaken in the early hours of the morning, raring to go! A brief conversation with one’s body tells it “reset the internal clock please, it’s not time to get up yet.” Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s not worth the fight. Time for sleep will come another day, or maybe even this afternoon? Today, I awake to a peaceful, morning soaking rain. Having missed out on the heat wave of the past several weeks, and having enjoyed the temperateness of the past two days since I came home, this rain is a welcome change of pace.

I awoke to today’s entry in my online daily devotional:

O God, you are my God; early will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. Psalms 63:1

Are you constantly busy but accomplishing very little? Do you feel like your life is always revving in high gear but you are stuck in neutral? It is so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of life we are spinning around in circles and lose all sense of direction for our lives.

That first sentence caught my eye: “Are you constantly busy but accomplishing very little?” I have to say sometimes yes to the first half of that, but no to the second half. Actually, I was just thinking about how un-hectic this summer has been, perhaps this is the best and truest summer I have had in a long time. Have I accomplished a lot this summer? Yes, I have. And, summer is definitely not over yet.

Then the question comes: “Do you feel like your life is always revving in high gear but you are stuck in neutral?” Absolutely not, online devo! That is exactly the opposite of how I am experiencing life today, post-Ukraine Trip #8. I am most definitely not currently “revving in high gear” but I am definitely not stuck in neutral. More precisely, I am resting in, and definitely caught up in “the whirlwind of life” [in the best and most spiritual “Ruach” sense of that word] but I am certainly not  “spinning around in circles” nor have I lost direction for my life. I still seek the Lord this morning as I should every morning, and I still need to thirst more and more for His hydrating presence in my life. But, I am not lacking in direction or feeling like I am stuck. Most definitely not. In fact, after these amazing three weeks in Ukraine, I feel more directional, with a clearer call on my life and a more specific set of “marching orders” than I have in a long, long time.

As my jetlag recedes more and more, I am left with such sweet memories of this time. So much of it is chronicled in the previous posts I have made. Anticipating our final home concert later this week, it will be such a wonderful reunion with the other members of Evangelion (sadly, without our Ukrainian “Magnificent Seven” but happy to reunite with our Home Chorale members). Olesya, Marina, Anya, Oxsana, Vitaly, Serhiy and Sasha – we already miss you and wish you could be with us this Thursday for our home concert at Benson Great Hall. But, you WILL be with us – in Spirit – and we will sing once again that beautiful song “Sweet Home” with two countries in mind – yours and ours. I know “Prayer for Two Countries” will have a deeper and more bittersweet taste to it for me (and for many of us) without all of you there with us. Veenker and I will do our best to be the chanting priests in the Gretchaninoff, and I know the rest of the program will be a wonderful musical reunion. I’ve missed singing it. I’m sure the rest of the Evangelion members have, too.

O God, you are my God; early will I seek you…

It’s not even 8am yet. Now to get hydrated and to ready to experience a great day of worship, family and a celebration of Christian community. No drought here – there is Living Water galore.

Postscript and preamble to this day:  This afternoon I am headed south to the wedding of a dear former student from NWC. He was on the Baltic Tour with the Northwestern College Choir back in 2010. Somehow, there is a special symmetry to the timing of this wedding, as it falls on the heels of my Ukraine trip where I spent such quality time with Sasha and his family, Serhiy (the still newlywed) and Vitaly, and in the homes of dear Ukrainian friends. The family continues to grow. Slava Bohu!