A Year In The Life – Brownsburg
October 7th, 2009Throughout this year two HeartSong members (Hayden Browning and Aubrey Womack) will be writing about their experiences as they travel with HeartSong and as they experience student life at Cedarville University. We call this series of blog entries, “A Year In The Life”. Sometimes these entries will be about HeartSong and the stories we hear about and experience on the road. Other times, they will be about happenings on campus. Hayden and Aubrey are both coming at this with different eyes as Hayden is a sophomore at Cedarville and just beginning to enter a stride here on campus, whereas Aubrey is entering her senior year and experiencing her “last firsts”. Thanks for reading!
Hayden – Brownsburg
Photo Scavenger Hunts are great...rigged, but great!
Hey all,
This was my second turn at Brownsburg for the annual Cedarville Touring Teams retreat. The basic goal for this weekend is for all the teams to grow closer together as teams, and get some experience ministering in a church setting. I personally love this weekend because it’s the first real time when your team comes together and you can really start getting to know each other. I also love this weekend because the church we rehearse in all weekend is such an awesome church. Bethesda Baptist Church really welcomes us in, and makes all the teams feel at home. Heartsong and Lifeline ministered and worshipped with the Bethesda congregation in their sunday morning service, while East to West and Masters Puppets ministered to the youth and children from the church as well. It really was an awesome “getting started” weekend for all the teams.
Even though this retreat weekend came less than 2 months after summer tour with last years teams, I was so ready for this weekend. It is always such a good reminder while in host homes, that we are called to be servants, like Christ was a servant to everyone around him. I am not talking about me serving my host family, I am talking about my host family serving me. The body of Christ is called to serve others and when I am in a host home, I see the body of Christ at its best. There is nothing better than being in someone else’s home, that you do not know, and just sitting down and sharing with each other. I love it, and I am so looking forward to all the homes and churches I will be in this upcoming year.
One of the highlights of this weekend is always the photo scavenger hunt in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday night. All 6 teams split up and try to get as many creative and unique pictures as they can, trying to gain points in whatever ways they can. It is a great time you get to share with you team, even though in the end every team knows they will loose because the Lifeline players win every year (Yes, it is rigged). Anyways, we are so blessed this year with the people and the teams God has perfectly placed together. We are so excited to see all the awesome things that we will do this year through the power of Jesus Christ alone.
Aubrey – Brownsburg
Aubrey and Hayden on Sunday
I’ve caught myself many times this year acknowledging the various “last first times” for me on HeartSong. For instance, during our first team rehearsal, I thought, “This is my very last first practice!” and all throughout our touring teams retreat in Brownsburg, IN, I kept thinking, “This is my last Brownsburg experience!” It seems crazy that I am actually in the midst of my senior year at Cedarville! People often say that college goes by so quickly, and now I am discovering the truth in their statements! Being a part of HeartSong has been such a gift in my life—God has used this ministry to challenge and refine me and teach me about the importance of unity in his body, the Church (among many, many other things!).
During our weekend at Brownsburg, where we had music rehearsals and had sessions on what touring is like (basically, the “how-to’s” of touring), I was reminded of the power in community, even the power in serving together for God’s work. I got to stay in a host home with Rachel Lee (who is on another HeartSong team this year), and we found that we have had many similar experiences in our lives. We’ve wrestled with many of the same things, we’re struggling with similar stuff right now, and we also have desires to see similar things happen within the body of Christ. Rachel and I got the chance to talk to our host mom and dad for a while when we would come home in the evenings. Our hosts told us about their lives together and about their families, and we realized that they, just like us, have experienced similar situations and encountered many of the same difficult times that we have.
On Friday night in our host home, before we went to bed, I was reading in 2 Corinthians, and came upon verses 3-5. It says, “All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah, Father of all mercy, God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too” (the Message). I love it when I spend time in the Word and God brings me to a passage or a verse that relates directly to my life right at that given moment. After reading this, I was just reminded of how God displays His grace to us through relationships He brings along our way. During our Brownsburg weekend, God brought Rachel into my life as a new friend, and He brought our hosts into our lives who are going through similar hard times so that we “can be there just as God was there for us,” just as 2 Corinthians describes. It was so neat to actually be able to see, again, the way God gives us just what we need at just the right time—for me, it was people who knew what I was going through and could completely identify with that! And now, when I pray for those situations in my life, I can pray for them as well.
I’m really looking forward to the year ahead of us! In the next few weeks, we’re getting ready for our first touring weekend in October during our fall break from school. Pray that God would continue to use the truth in the words that we sing and in the music that we play to encourage his body and bring people to Him—but also pray that God would allow us to form relationships with each other on our teams and with people in the churches and with our host families so that we can build each other up and bring glory to God.