How can I keep from singing?

“No storm can shake my inmost calm,

While to that Rock I’m clinging.
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?"

My life is storming right now. . . in a really, REALLY good way. Things are happening faster than ever, and that's saying lot, coming from someone who normally operates at WARP speed. The kind of exciting storms that have me just shaking my head and bursting out in song! Here's the scoop:

Church Council: the congregation of Bethany voted on Sunday morning, and I'm in! I'll be serving on the Council for the next 3 years, and my duties begin soon. YEAH! Having really thought about this one, I'm overjoyed that the members of the congregation believe I'm up to the task. I LOVE being a part of the action, and I'm excited to walk along such faithful people! I also know that a few new friends were not voted in, and I'm hoping that they can come to peace with the final decisions. I'm proud of them for agreeing to serve and for putting themselves out there in the first place, and perhaps another opportunity will arise for them soon.Organist Search Committee: Hooray! I was selected to serve on this committee, and be a part of selecting the next person to serve Bethany, musically speaking. Having been on hiring teams before, this is the last you'll hear about this until the new person is chosen. Blogs are great for communication purposes, yet the integrity of the process is super-important, so mums the word until official communication is released by the church. Just know I'm extremely happy to be a part of helping Bethany move forward musically!

Bradley John: After passing his physical (and jumping through a hundred other hoops), my younger brother, Brad, has enlisted in the Army. He'll be shipping out to Fort Bragg in North Carolina mid-December, and is excited about starting this next part of his life. I really do wish him luck on his journey, and I know he could use all of our positive thoughts and prayers!

Dot Update: My grandmother, Dot, is doing considerably well for an 82 year old woman who fell off her porch and fractured her arm and dislocated her shoulder. Movement in her injured limb is slowly beginning to return, and I check-in on her enough to feel confident that she is focused on getting well. She made it to church for the first time this past weekend, which was an important first step. Kudos, Dot!

Chancel Choir: Woohoo! I was just invited to play the harpsichord at the Messiah performance (the Christmas portions) in December! YEAH! They are such a hard-working choir - they take their job as church musicians very seriously, and have such a great time doing it! Again, I'm just excited to be part of the action! If you live anywhere near Denver, stop on by for the 75-minute concert: Friday, December 4th. 7:00 pm, free-will offering. Where? Why Bethany, of course!

Disciple Class II: While in the middle of my trip to DC, I was contacted about co-teaching the next round of Disciple Bible studies at Bethany. Go figure -just one year after joining the class, they are letting me assist in leading it! HA! I actually look at this as being asked to help facilitate. My co-teacher is awesome, and we'll be there to help guide and steer the conversation, to draw people into faith talks with one another, and to better understand the stories of God and the Bible. The course name is Disciple: Remember Who You Are, and we are going to be studying the letters of Paul and stories of the prophets, and as long as the Pastors feel I'm right for the job, then game on!

My Eye: Long story short, it's time for a new shell. I'm guessing most of you know this already (but just in case) my actual right eye is blind and I wear a lovely glass eye (shell) on top of it. After a scary week of being told I might have to have the blind eye removed (I'm a bit attached to the little guy) we figured out that my shell is simply getting old and that it's wearing out, thus irritating the blind eye beneath. Shells are supposed to last 5-7 years, and mine will be 10 years old this coming January. Emotions aside, I'm starting the process of having a new one crafted, and will keep the updates coming.

Lutheran Study Bible: Honestly, this is just awesome: I promised myself that after I finished the FIRST Disciple Bible Study course, that I would buy myself one of the newest Lutheran Study Bibles. I keep seeing them in use in our class, and my Bible-envy was growing. (Insert lightning strike here.) Then, on Facebook (the other social network site that seems to zap what little free-time I actually have), I see that Augsburg Fortress (publishers of anything Lutheran) is sponsoring a contest about "How does scripture inspire you?" I submitted my story about re-writing the words to "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and they wrote me to tell me I had won a hard-cover edition! WOOHOO! How cool is that - here I am at Week 33 of 34, just one week from purchasing this Bible...and I win it! Too cool!

So...storms and all, I ask you:

How can I keep from singing?