Good Friday
So yesterday was Good Friday. And I thought I'd just share about how my day went.
My family went to the Good Friday service at Hillsdale in the morning. Pastor Bill gave a powerful and inspiring message on "The Crisis of the Cross" and we sang songs like Agnus Dei and How Deep the Father's Love with Communion following the message. It was a great way to start off the day and really focus on what Christ did for us on the cross.
My family and the Reimer's went to Classic Buffet for lunch with was quite enjoyable. It was a little rushed for me because we got to the restaurant at about 12:20 and I had to be at WCC for 1pm.
So that was my next stop - Western Christian College. The youth that were leading the worship for the evening along with Pastor Bernard, Pastor Josh, Barclay and Kory worked through the after setting up everything so that the worhsip music would run smoothly. I was a bit tired and my nosed was really stuffed up, but I kept busy to take my mind of being sick.
Supper took place at the WCC cafeteria. One of those old school cafeterias where you actually get a tray and slide it along, picking up a dessert, main dish foods, some salad bar food and 5 choice of juice. It was neat! After supper we all changed out of our casual clothes and I got my hair straightened. Kiersten did it...hehe, it turned out quite nicely too.
Then all the leaders, pastors and people in charge of running the evening gathered together for prayer. Not too long after people started coming in.
I had invited about 9 people and one of them showed up. But I'm still glad that that one friend did show up. We all gathered in the auditorium while one of the pastors led us in prayer and gave intructions to each of the stations we were going to. There were seven stations to go to. One was holding a thorn branch in your hands, remembering what Christ did on the cross and asking Him to remove the thorns from your life. Another station you would roll dice and whatever number you rolled on the dice you would write on a banner that number of distractions keeping you from God, and pray that they would no longer keep you away from Him. One of the stations had a large piece of cloth representing the curtain that was torn in two in the temple, people would tear a piece of the cloth from bottom to top, asking God to tear away any barriers in their life. There was a station where you could taste bitter vinegar and ask God to remove any bitterness from your life. Another station had a canvas that said "Remember me" referring to the thief on the cross next to Jesus, asking Jesus to remember him when He was in heaven. So we wrote our names and thanked God for His eternal love. There was a station had a wooden cross lying on the group with hammer and nails where you could hammer a nail into the cross and ask forgiveness of a specific sin in your life. The last station was in the auditorium. It was three big candles lit, representing the Trinity and people would take a small tea-light candle the light it from the bigger candles, then put it close to the three main candles. It represents us being a light for Jesus to this dark world, and as people shine for Him, more come to know Him and the light grows and shines brighter.
They were all meaningful stations, the two most meaningful ones for me were the "Remember Me" station and the cross station. It took me a long time to go forward and pick up that hammer and nail a nail into the cross. Just watching everyone pound a nail into the cross really choked me up. It's so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that God loves us so much that He'd send His one and only Son to die for our sins, for MY sin.
Hillsdale youth led the worship for the evening. I really enjoyed being able to play the drums and not worry about all the technical aspects of playing, but rather just focus on Christ while I played and really worship Him. Once the main worship was done, there was time to reflect and pray while Bernard and Josh played some songs on the guitar. I quietly sat down and reflected on the whole day and what Jesus went through so that I could have salvation and eternal life with Him. Wow, God is so good! I truly don't deserve His mercy and grace. I stayed sitting where I was for quite awhile, simply enjoying the peacefulness and quiet. Just taking time to be still.
After a while I joined people outside the auditorium and talked with others for a bit then a bunch of us helped take down the stage and pack up everything. A guy named Lee Harding came up to be and asked me some questions about the night and playing on the worship team. It was interesting. We all finished packing up then Jen and I headed home. We had a super late supper that consisted of mandarine salad, flat bread, potatoes and lamb. We shared around the table our highlights of the day then I headed to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.
All in all, it was an amazing day that really hit home for me more than once and drove me to my knees in prayer several times. The best part is that it doesn't stop there, Jesus wasn't just barried in the tomb and stayed dead, but rose again in 3 days! That's why I'm pumped for Easter Sunday tomorrow. I can't wait!
God bless,
Andrea
PS. If you want to read the article about the Good Friday Youth Service go to
http://reginalink.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=1
and if that doesn't work then just type in the main website and it should be on the homepage.
My family went to the Good Friday service at Hillsdale in the morning. Pastor Bill gave a powerful and inspiring message on "The Crisis of the Cross" and we sang songs like Agnus Dei and How Deep the Father's Love with Communion following the message. It was a great way to start off the day and really focus on what Christ did for us on the cross.
My family and the Reimer's went to Classic Buffet for lunch with was quite enjoyable. It was a little rushed for me because we got to the restaurant at about 12:20 and I had to be at WCC for 1pm.
So that was my next stop - Western Christian College. The youth that were leading the worship for the evening along with Pastor Bernard, Pastor Josh, Barclay and Kory worked through the after setting up everything so that the worhsip music would run smoothly. I was a bit tired and my nosed was really stuffed up, but I kept busy to take my mind of being sick.
Supper took place at the WCC cafeteria. One of those old school cafeterias where you actually get a tray and slide it along, picking up a dessert, main dish foods, some salad bar food and 5 choice of juice. It was neat! After supper we all changed out of our casual clothes and I got my hair straightened. Kiersten did it...hehe, it turned out quite nicely too.
Then all the leaders, pastors and people in charge of running the evening gathered together for prayer. Not too long after people started coming in.
I had invited about 9 people and one of them showed up. But I'm still glad that that one friend did show up. We all gathered in the auditorium while one of the pastors led us in prayer and gave intructions to each of the stations we were going to. There were seven stations to go to. One was holding a thorn branch in your hands, remembering what Christ did on the cross and asking Him to remove the thorns from your life. Another station you would roll dice and whatever number you rolled on the dice you would write on a banner that number of distractions keeping you from God, and pray that they would no longer keep you away from Him. One of the stations had a large piece of cloth representing the curtain that was torn in two in the temple, people would tear a piece of the cloth from bottom to top, asking God to tear away any barriers in their life. There was a station where you could taste bitter vinegar and ask God to remove any bitterness from your life. Another station had a canvas that said "Remember me" referring to the thief on the cross next to Jesus, asking Jesus to remember him when He was in heaven. So we wrote our names and thanked God for His eternal love. There was a station had a wooden cross lying on the group with hammer and nails where you could hammer a nail into the cross and ask forgiveness of a specific sin in your life. The last station was in the auditorium. It was three big candles lit, representing the Trinity and people would take a small tea-light candle the light it from the bigger candles, then put it close to the three main candles. It represents us being a light for Jesus to this dark world, and as people shine for Him, more come to know Him and the light grows and shines brighter.
They were all meaningful stations, the two most meaningful ones for me were the "Remember Me" station and the cross station. It took me a long time to go forward and pick up that hammer and nail a nail into the cross. Just watching everyone pound a nail into the cross really choked me up. It's so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that God loves us so much that He'd send His one and only Son to die for our sins, for MY sin.
Hillsdale youth led the worship for the evening. I really enjoyed being able to play the drums and not worry about all the technical aspects of playing, but rather just focus on Christ while I played and really worship Him. Once the main worship was done, there was time to reflect and pray while Bernard and Josh played some songs on the guitar. I quietly sat down and reflected on the whole day and what Jesus went through so that I could have salvation and eternal life with Him. Wow, God is so good! I truly don't deserve His mercy and grace. I stayed sitting where I was for quite awhile, simply enjoying the peacefulness and quiet. Just taking time to be still.
After a while I joined people outside the auditorium and talked with others for a bit then a bunch of us helped take down the stage and pack up everything. A guy named Lee Harding came up to be and asked me some questions about the night and playing on the worship team. It was interesting. We all finished packing up then Jen and I headed home. We had a super late supper that consisted of mandarine salad, flat bread, potatoes and lamb. We shared around the table our highlights of the day then I headed to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.
All in all, it was an amazing day that really hit home for me more than once and drove me to my knees in prayer several times. The best part is that it doesn't stop there, Jesus wasn't just barried in the tomb and stayed dead, but rose again in 3 days! That's why I'm pumped for Easter Sunday tomorrow. I can't wait!
God bless,
Andrea
PS. If you want to read the article about the Good Friday Youth Service go to
http://reginalink.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=1
and if that doesn't work then just type in the main website and it should be on the homepage.
posted by Andrea at 11:18 AM
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