Mime4Jesus - The Purpose

Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set the example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. I Timothy 4:12

Oct. 27, 2009

The Purpose

This blog has been in the back of my mind for a long time. We’ll see how far I get on it now.

I think I can safely say that the past five weeks have been the toughest of my days as a SALTeam member. I guess I’ve been SALT for about two and a half years. So much has changed since I started… there’ve been a lot of tough times. But this has been the toughest.

All the other times, when mission trips went out, they’d take a couple of our SALT members, and one time they took three – Amber, Ben, and Kristina – but I wasn’t on the SALTeam then and even if I had been, I would have had Katie. When Katie went on mission trips there was always Melissa. When Courtney was gone on the CAMT Melissa was still there.

When Courtney, Amber and Madison go on the ECMT, Melissa is gone working and Katie is in college, guess who’s still there? NOBODY.

You may or may not recall the struggles I was going through about a year ago when the first wave of new people hit our team. We’d been basically the same team – Jarek, Madison, John, Melissa, Jacob, me and Jo – for over a year, with a few additions at different times (Jonathan, Missy and Simone). We’d all been anticipating what it would be like to open up and accept new members. It was really rough. We knew it’d be rough. We knew we had to open up. We knew all that… but it was still rough.

In those months I often longed for “the old days…” way back when, when a presentation consisted of eight people who knew the songs and each other like the back of their hand. Way back when, when our Bible studies were deep and challenging and intimate. I often felt guilty about these reminisces because I knew I was supposed to be content with where I was at. However, I couldn’t help looking back at those months with longing.

It was only a couple weeks ago that God showed me: there WAS a purpose to those months, and there WAS a purpose to now – to being here relatively alone with a lot of responsibilities.

What was it that I missed so much about those months? It was the intimacy of the team. We knew each other. We weren’t afraid to share our struggles and challenges with each other. Many tears were shed in the Bible studies… ‘cause it didn’t matter. We could be vulnerable with each other.

It was the depth of the team. One summer we wrote a Bible study. Just the five of us girls wrote a… I don’t know, ten page Bible study on “Stand!” The Bible studies were relevant and challenging. Tess pushed us. We didn’t talk in makeup – it just didn’t happen. We toced. We practiced. We had passion contests. Our presentations were sharp. Why? Not because we on our own were great, but because we as a team were great.

It was the ability of the team. I’ll never get over the thrill of Response Team presentations thrown together on the spur of the moment with no practice. I remember one time we presented One Time Show at Branson Fest and Tess had to take all of Jacob’s parts because he was gone. She couldn’t find Katie, our audience plant. It was wild, but it was awesome.

It was the hard times we went through together and how we came out stronger and closer. One spring I sprained my ankle at a service project the day before a long presentation in Springfield. Tess took my parts but the ankle didn’t fully heal till a month later (‘cause we had a bunch of presentations). We presented at YCW two weeks after the sprain and I hobbled through Silver Dollar City to get to the Saloon, leaning on Melissa. One time we presented in the rain… and I don’t mean just drizzle. DRENCHING rain. That was one of our best presentations ever. One time we presented in a parking lot with an audience of about seven to try to draw people to a fundraiser for an African ministry. In Spirit, Jacob couldn’t get the crown and the boa apart so he gave them both to Jarek. It was a catastrophic presentation! Hence, we grew closer and learned from it.

One of the hardest times was in summer ’07 – half of the team dropped out. Suddenly. Those of us that remained were left looking at each other… but we didn’t stay there. We picked up the pieces and moved on.

Innumerable memories. Birthday parties. Golfing with Melissa and the team at one of the most pathetic courses in Branson. Sneaking away at the end of practice across slippery roads to Melissa’s church to practice the song we were putting together as a Christmas present for the Rolfs and Madrigals. Celebratin’ Jesus in the Adoration Parade. Those blankety-blank present costumes and trying to move in them. Covering them with contact paper before the parade. Jorge running back to the church to get yet another prop I’d forgotten. Girls’ night at my house with Tess’ Bible study and oatmeal illustration with too much salt that she made us taste.

It was good. It was a good time. But it’s over now. So a couple of weeks ago I was talking with God about all that time and how much easier things were then and how much I liked it then, blah blah blah. And He basically stopped me and said, “that time is over.” And I basically looked at him and said, “duh, God. I know.” And He told me that I didn’t know as much as I thought I did and if I really knew I wouldn’t be griping to Him.

To be continued...

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Nov. 1, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Claire

I can definitely empathize! I had a hard time whenever ANY new members joined the team. I don't adapt well to change, and I always missed how it was the previous year...

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