Great gleanings from our student Collin…

This past week hundreds of students from and around Rochester, NY participated in The Flower City Work Camp. Students reached out to the city of Rochester by working on homes and sharing the love of Christ with kids through sidewalk clubs and basketball camps. Teams went on prayer walks, and prayed for a lot of people who they just happened to come into contact with while on the street.

I have participated in Flower City for three years and this was my last as a student. In past years I have been extremely blessed by Worshiping God with hundreds of students, but this year was different for me. As a senior I have many things on my mind and these often distract me when I am worshiping. But regardless, I struggled to worship with all of my heart, mind, and strength. I did not feel “into it.” This was quite frustrating. As I kept my heart clean and prayed, I just didn’t understand what was wrong. Then, on Thursday, as my team was leaving our sidewalk club location, one of my friends reminded me that Worship is not about how I feel. It’s not about the music being good or the people’s voices being on key or any of that. It’s about Jesus! It’s us singing to the Creator of the universe! Later that night, the speaker said essentially the same thing. Doing what God has called us to do is NOT ABOUT HOW WE FEEL! It’s about giving God everything we are and are not and letting Him use us. And obeying Him! Because He is worthy! He has saved us! The Bible calls it our “reasonable service.” We were challenged to worship God with everything we had. To “sing and dance till we were so sweaty that our friends told us we stank.” So at that moment I made up my mind to do that. To worship God with everything I had, even though I did not feel like it. And we did! God’s presence filled the room and we ended up singing the line “Holy, Holy, are You Lord God Almighty, Worthy is the Lamb, Worthy is the Lamb, You are Holy” for an hour! I couldn’t help but think about how in the book of Revelation the beasts sing “Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Worthy, Worthy, Worthy is the lamb that was slain.” I believe that night I got a small taste of what eternity will be like in Heaven. So, all this is to basically say, worship God with everything that you have and don’t let your feelings hold you back! And don’t just worship Him when you sing at church. Worship Him with your life!