Being in the Right Place at the Right Time

but without my camera. sigh


Last night I was definitely in the right place at the right time.

Wow! What a wonderful evening! The Nashville Praise Symphony was fantastic! Our Hilldale Baptist Church choir was in full force and sang WONDERFULLY!


Chasing a rabbit - we need a fancier name for our choir. Perhaps I'll put a poll up over there on the left. Yes... that's what I'll do.


So, back to the point.

I had a blast last night. Playing in the orchestra was so much fun! I haven't had the opportunity to play in an orchestra in a very long time. Even though I was sight-reading most of the notes (I did look at the music one day, but did not get to spend much time with it) I didn't play any unwritten solos and only had to skip over a few really fast notes.

Then, having the privilege of directing that fine orchestra and our unnamed adult choir, that was just THE BEST!


We often use the phrase "in the right place at the right time" to talk about some one's lucky happenstance and fortune coming their way unexpectedly. But I've found through the years that being in the right place at the right time usually isn't a chance thing. People who are in "the right place at the right time" have usually studied, practiced, worked hard and have ended up at the right place at the right time because they planned on getting there. Keeping with our rabbit theme - you don't get there with chance or with a lucky rabbit's foot. (Who made that rabbit foot thing up anyway??)



Last night's event wasn't by chance. The orchestra rehearsed on more than one occasion before last night and individually the players have spent many, many hours learning to be the best at their instrument. I didn't learn how to direct a choir and an orchestra one afternoon when I didn't have anything else to do. I went to school and studied and learned the instruments and have been doing that for many years. The choir rehearsed our songs (good thing we knew them since the words messed up) and sang well because we have spent time together singing.



And most importantly - God honored our efforts and our rehearsing and practice and planning and prayers and blessed us with His Spirit singing and playing and moving through us and we shared a wonderful evening of beautiful music and a great time of worship.

All of that to say.


Don't wait around life hoping that some day you're going to end up "at the right place at the right time." By the way - I'm not just talking about music here. This applies to EVERYTHING in life.


Dream


Plan


Practice


Study


Work hard


Pray





Don't be a victim of circumstances. DO something grand!

Great Opportunity - Copy of E-mail 10-9-09

Sometimes my e-mails don't go through. If you read this blog regularly you have seen some posts about that.

So... just to make sure the message is getting out... here is a copy of an e-mail I just sent to the choir. If you aren't in choir you may find it somewhat informative or you can just click on to something else. If you are in choir you should read it just in case the e-mail doesn't make it to your inbox.

Just a quick reminder about Sunday night.

This is a GREAT opportunity for us. Churches all across Middle Tennessee have tried to get the Nashville Praise Symphony to come to their church for a concert and for the chance for their choir to sing with them. But we are one of the few churches who will actually get to hear them and sing with them.

The NPS has members from churches all across the state (mostly middle TN) and some that even come in from other states. I'm excited that they will get to see our church and hear you all sing.

If you work in AWANA I'm sure the other workers will be happy to cover for you since they will want us to be at our very best. We have been advertising on the radio and the Fisher House has been telling people about the concert, so we should have several guests. Let's let them see a big, wonderful choir. I'm sure you'll want to have your children in there too since this is a once-in-many-years event. How often do your children get to see a live orchestra?

So we will look nice without wearing robes, we're going to wear black and white. We will sit in the congregation (so you can sit with your spouse and your children) and then we will move to the choir loft toward the end of the program.

We will go over our songs ("Let the Worshippers Arise" and "Our God Saves") at 4:30. Come a little early so we can begin singing at 4:30.

Don't forget that we will be sharing a snack supper with the orchestra immediately after the concert. Lil Smith had sign up sheets Wednesday night for sandwiches and desserts. She can tell you what we need if you didn't get to sign up.

See you Sunday!

VBS and CMS

Look at this! Our very own Angie Thomas is famous!
She's on a commercial for CMS!

"What's CMS?" you may ask. It's the Children's Music Series from LifeWay. Great music, great curriculum, fun activities and they learn about music and worship and scripture and biblical truths and more.

Our Children's Choirs are on Sunday nights at 4:30. Are your children in choir?

Pics from our Choir Retreat

Our retreat was a few weeks ago, but my church computer didn't like talking to my camera so I couldn't get the pictures. I know all of our curious readers were waiting with great anticipation for some details of the retreat and some fun pictures.


Lining up the words game.



Yummy snack food!

Haha. The only difference between a room for two and a room for four was how many of the bunk beds had sheets on them. You might give me a call before you book a group here.

My favorite game of the weekend - Follow the Light. It was really cool.

Notice the red lights in the mirrors.

The Choir Joins the Symphony

Not joins as in we are all learning to play the violin, but joins as in we're going to sing some songs together!

I just got word today that a couple of the songs that we know as a choir will be on the program Sunday night when the Nashville Praise Symphony plays here! So we'll be singing "Let the Worshippers Arise" and "Our God Saves" as they play.

How cool is that? I love both of these songs!! And with it being a Sunday night we can have the whole choir singing together instead of two halves like on Sunday mornings! Woohoo! I'm all excited about it.

Here's a link to an article on the Leaf Chronicles web news page that tells about the concert. Add a comment and drum up some excitement. http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200910061200/NEIGHBORHOODS01/910060354

Bring someone with you to a great evening - Sunday, 5:00, Hilldale Baptist Church - be there!

Here's another great choir and orchestra combination.

Nashville Praise Symphony

A Press Release

THE NASHVILLE PRAISE SYMPHONY will play a concert on Sunday, October 11 at 5:00 PM at Hilldale Baptist Church,
2001 Madison St., in Clarksville TN 37040. The concert is free, but an offering will be received to benefit the Ft. Campbell Fisher House, a special place which assists wounded veterans and their families ( www.fortcampbellfisherhouse.org/ ).

The NPS is a 50-piece orchestra made up of some of the finest church musicians in middle Tennessee, and directed by well-known conductor and arranger, Mr. Camp Kirkland. The orchestra plays a variety of classical and popular music, plus arrangements of hymns and praise songs. The concerts are designed to be worshipful as well as entertaining.

Well... I guess you can tell I didn't write that. Boring!

Here's the deal. This is a great event for Clarksville! The Nashville Praise Symphony puts on a great concert that is fun, has some great music and also some wonderful times of worship as the music helps you worship and praise the Lord.

Their director is the famous Camp Kirkland http://www.campkirkland.com/ - known all over the world as a great choral and instrumental arranger. Our choir sings songs he has written all of the time.

I told David Winkler, http://davidwinkler.com/ their pianist and arranger that I'd love to play with them some time but that it was difficult to add another rehearsal every month to my schedule - and get this! - he sent me the music and I'm going to play with them this Sunday night! How fun is that? Well, at least it's fun for me! I know you will really enjoy the concert and at the right moment you can holler out. "Hooray for Bro. Lyndel! Look at him play that fiddle!"

I'm really excited about how this concert will benefit the Ft. Campbell Fisher House.

www.fortcampbellfisherhouse.org/

Invite all of your army friends to come support the Fisher House this Sunday night.

See you then.

Crazy Week

Last week was crazy busy! I took off Monday since my mom was in town and then was behind the rest of the week.

Last Friday and Saturday was the Kids Choral Connection. I'll post some pictures later today (if my camera and computer decide to talk to each other.)

I'll be adding another post as soon as I finish this one which will advertise the Nashville Praise Symphony concert next Sunday night. Use that link to invite people to come enjoy a great evening of music.