Interesting thought...

So... I picked up a book that I've been about half way through for a long time today called "Restoring Broken Things". One of the co-authors is Steven Curtis Chapman ... the news of his daughter being killed in that accident made me think of that book again. It's been so long since I've read any of it I could not even give you an accurate summary of the book at all, but one of the chapters I read today was very interesting.

The other writer ... somebody Scott, was holding a seminar and one of the assignments of that morning was to write and tell about the most powerful worship service they had experienced in the last year. All of the attendees came from different religious backgrounds, so they were all telling of different church services they had been in and he put in the book 3 of the different testimonies of the evening.

Then he was asked to tell his most powerful worship service, and he responded by telling of his journey to Africa and meeting the people there. He told of the first night where they had a small "congregation" in a mud hut where he witnessed hungry people singing praises to God and then he preached and it was moving and was a great service of worship. However, he said his most powerful worship service was the following day in a different village when they went to distribute food. He told of how his church had donated enough food for the entire village to be spared from starvation for 6 months. He said they spent 8-9 hours loading up pack mules for different families, and that he had never truly known the depths of starvation and malnutrition until that day.

Of course, people started asking where the singing and preaching was to be a worship service, and he told them how they did the assignment incorrectly. He wanted them to recognize that when he talked of the first night it was "a service of worship", meaning they gathered to worship God. The second day was "a worship service", in which they were worshiping through service.

He talked about how our lives were meant to always worship Him, and that we should live our lives this way. Our actions, our thoughts, our lives should be a worship service to God.

I've never really thought of it that way. I mean, of course, I pray all the time that my life be pleasing to Him and that my life would praise Him. But I never really thought of it as every act of kindness, ever tender moment spent sensitive to those lost and dying around me, every word of encouragement, every listening ear, every shoulder to cry on ... those moments are a "worship service" to God.

So.. just a little thought I wanted to share. Kinda opened my eyes a little today.