5 and 5

This was week 2 of worship practice at church, and it has inspired me to give you 5 reasons why being a college student-athlete-worship leader is a challenge, and 5 reasons why it's rewarding.

Challenge

1) Saturday nights and Sunday mornings are arch nemeses. After track all day Saturday, I'm tired, but I also want to connect with some of the meaningful relationships in my life. Worship team practices at 8:30 on Sunday mornings, which is much earlier than it sounds. Especially when you forget to practice until 11:30 in Saturday night. Oops.

2) Weekday rehearsals mean library nights. Since I was missing practice, I get up early to run, shower, and eat before class. After class, I go home with my pastor's wife (who works at the college), and then we make dinner and dessert. I eat with them, before walking over to church for practice. Tonight, we went late, and I didn't get home until almost 8. I hadn't been on campus all day, and felt generally disorganized. Lattes are delicious.

3) Not knowing as many songs as everyone else. We have a couple different teams at our church, but they've all been doing this for years, so they're more familiar with the music. I feel like a heathen sometimes (Does EVERYONE except me know all 6 verses of this hymn by heart?! Really?)

4) Track workouts are hard to do alone. Tuesdays are our hard days, where we do speed workouts and hills and everything nasty. It's almost fun when your team is with you, cheering you on, equally exhausted, but when it's 7am and you're hitting the track by yourself, it's a whole lot less fun.

5) Saying yes to one thing means saying no to something else. When I say yes to worship leading, I say no to sitting with my fellow college students for worship as part of our church body, to extra study time, to working out with my team, to friends whom I can love and serve.

Reward

1) I have to learn how to keep a schedule. I have to be a little wiser, and more intentional with what I'm doing, because I spend the bulk of my day off campus.

2) Learning opportunities. I have the chance to sit under people who really know what they're doing, and it is a blessing to be able to do so.

3) Worshiping. I love to worship, so getting to do so with fellow believers Tuesday nights, Sunday mornings, and Sunday mornings again is fantastic.

4) Church involvement. Biblically, it's important to be a part of a church. I really love being able to be involved. I like getting to know my fellow team members more than I would if I were just there on Sundays. We have some pretty silly moments...like when our 59 year old worship pastor plays the "bass" on the key board, and we kick the classic hymn, "What a Wonderful Savior" up a few notches too far.

5) Saying yes to one thing means saying no to something else. When I say yes to worship leading, I say no to wasting time, to refusing to be part of God's call for my life, to letting my passions go unused.

So, there you have it. I think I'm glad I didn't do this throughout college, because I would've been too busy and put more pressure on myself than necessary. I have the time this semester, and I'm glad to be able to use it in this way.