Ward Church!

We were able to attend Hospital Ward Service - Ward church! earlier today.  What a privilege to be able to be on Deck 3 this morning!  There was an unexplainable JOY in that room/hallway (well, I suppose it's completely explainable - the glory, power and presence of God!!!).  From nurses to patients to dayworkers to other crew, it was a beautiful mix of age, race, color, position, health, language, background -- as Clementine put it (she is an absolutely lovely lady from Togo who serves in a wide variety of roles in the hospital - the easiest way to describe it may be to say she's the Hospital Chaplain), it was a picture of the beauty of the Lord!! 

The worship was loud and lively! (maybe a bit too loud for Caroline...but she hung in there).    Drums, guitars and voices -- beautiful music!!  Authentic joyful ALIVE worship! What a blessing to be a part of it! 

Nick did a great job of sharing about the HOPE that we have (thanks to all of who you were praying for him!).  I'm always impressed by him..his preparation, his speaking, his creativity, his authenticity.  What a joy to be his wife!  I'm so proud of him in so many ways. 

Want to read more about ward church?  Here's a link to our friend Stephanie's thoughts

Random facts about the service this morning (I'm not sure I can make a blog post without a list of some sort):

• The African man leading worship reminded me of my brother, Lane (that's a big compliment to both of them!).  JOY JOY JOY JOY all over him!
• Eli liked the service more than he would like to admit (he was humming one of the songs long after we got back home!)
• We got to play "air trumpets" as part of a worship song.  THAT was fun!
• Emma was able to color with a little girl...I was proud of her interacting/sharing abilities 
• Caroline's friend Isabella swooped in with skittles at just the right moment.  :)

I just asked Caroline if she had any thoughts on church this morning.  The conversation went something like this:

Caroline: "It was better than I thought it would be."
Dianna:  "What about it was better than you thought it would be?
Caroline:  "I got to sit on a bed instead of a chair.  And I got to see Emma." 
Dianna:  "Emma?  You always get to see your sister."
Caroline:  "NO, silly goose.  The OTHER Emma."
Dianna:  "oh!  got it (realized she was talking about Emma the nurse from Great Britain!).  Any other thoughts on church?"
Caroline:  "I had to close my ears.  I liked the music.  It was just loud.  Are we going to go again?"
Dianna:  "I sure hope so."
 
Surely there will be more to come!