Did you ever talk to God above?

Did you ever talk to God above?

Tell Him that you need a friend to love.

Pray in Jesus’ name believing

that God answers prayer.

Have you told Him all your cares and woes?

Ev’ry tiny little fear He knows.

You can know He’ll always hear

And He will answer prayer.

You can whisper in a crowd to Him.

You can cry when you’re alone to Him.

You don’t have to pray out loud to Him;

He knows your thoughts.

On a lofty mountain peak, He’s there.

In a meadow by a stream, He’s there.

Anywhere on earth you go,

He’s been there from the start.

Find the answer in His Word; it’s true.

You’ll be strong because He walks with you.

By His faithfulness He’ll change you, too.

God answers prayer.

This has always been one of my favourite Sunday School songs. I've now decided that this will be our song (hear that, sista?) 

Now to keep singing it for the next 8 years, and more...gladly!

funny old men

Funny incident which I'd probably still find funny in years to come...

A church choir was started late last year. Obviously with the size of the church the way it is, I thought it'd be better to join. I'm fact I was quite excited about it at the beginning, because the demographics of the church are such that 90℅ of attendees are African or Caribbean, so I naturally expected the famed natural singing talent would prevail. Moreover when choosing the first song I would told to make sure there would be 4 parts - SATB. 

Anyway, it was tough-going. We managed 2 parts for the Christmas piece and the Easter piece, following which I found them the easiest 2-past choral arrangement I could fine,  and still it took us about 3 months to master there song. We are now on to a slightly more challenging, but still easy 3-part piece. I guess the lovely thing about this group is that they are all pretty advanced in age, let's just say half are retirees and the rest a good 10 years ahead of me, and no one has any musical training. Teaching the, a warm-up of singing numbers from 1 to 10 was hard enough, forget anything fancy. Thank God for teaching me patience through this, and for being able to demand less than perfection.

Last Sunday was a sectional practice for the men, and by that I mean all 3 men of the choir. First they locked me out for a good 10 mins, completely oblivious to the persistent doorbell. Then they didn't know the melody of what I thought was a popular hymn. And it was a lot of effort just teaching 8 lines (6 of which had the same tune). It didn't help that the the sun was blazing outside, temperatures were soaring and the fan didn't ventilate the piano area, so I was shouting instructions (otherwise they can't hear), singing (1 person louder than 3), repeating my instructions over and over again before I'm understood. It was boiling hot, halfway through, I couldnt stand anymore and had to sit on the piano bench.. I somehow managed to continue the practice and they couldn't see me or see that anything was wrong, which was fine. 5 mins from the time I would normally end the practice I felt super faint. And I've done so enough times before to know it was really going to happen. So I abruptly called the practice to a halt and said i was feeling a little light-headed... and the next thing that happened is either funny or tragic (I choose the former)... They started apologising profusely for not getting their parts and said they would get it with some practice, promising to improve by the next time! Hilarious!!! Even after I said it was nothing to do with them and everything to do with the heat they continued... So I just left it as that. I'm not sure if they eventually got the point! 

These dear old friends are so funny sometimes :)

BTW I'm not complaining about the hard work or state of the choir. I think its a precious experience- back home we've taken musicality for granted and in fact we don't even use our God-given talents to our best ability; whereas here these folk have zero background and are really trying hard to understand and learn. It is such a privilege to be able to work with them and serve the Lord in some capacity. Also gives me great excuse to import choral scores from the USA and a chance to work those diaphragms again after 4 years of silence.