Striving for Excellence

The summer is officially over for our family.  School bells have rung again and we are in full swing now! The new school supplies are in use, uniforms are out, schedules are posted, and their new lunch boxes are very cool!  Of course, the first day of school is always the most fun!  Seeing all your friends after summer vacation and catching up is great, but then that fun starts to wear off as soon as the homework and early morning wakeups hit.  Reality sets in and as parents; our job is to encourage the kids to start the year off with good study habits and routines so they can continue to follow through all year.  We are also their “cheerleaders”, if you will, to encourage them when the going gets tough and they just don’t think they can do one more piece of homework.   We also want our kids to strive for excellence in all they do.  In our home, we do not demand all “A’s”, but we do expect them to do their very best in all areas.  God doesn’t expect perfection in us, but he does expect our best.  That is something that we try to instill in our kids, through God’s Word.  

Our best!  That is what God deserves in all areas of our lives.  Not just for the kids in school or sports, but from all of us in every thing we do.  We wholeheartedly need to give our all to God.  In our parenting, our marriages, our jobs, our relationships, our ministries, and every other area, we need to work to give God our best, to strive for excellence!  King Hezekiah was a king that had a close relationship with God.  Though he did make mistakes at times too, he was credited for trusting the Lord and seeking excellence.  

“This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah,

doing what was good and right and faithful

before the Lord his God.  In everything
that he undertook in the service of God’s temple

and in obedience to the law and the commands,

he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.

And so he prospered.”

-- 2 Chronicles 31:20-21 

“He sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.”  We, as children of God, need to seek God daily.  Just as Hezekiah, a leader, served as a role model, we too serve as role models in the position we hold as worship leaders.  Others are watching our lives and our lives should match what we sing and lead on Sunday mornings.  Just like we teach our children, God doesn’t expect perfection from us but he does deserve our best.  We should strive for excellence in leading worship to our God!  That requires us to be in a deep prayer life, and daily reading of his Word for guidance and direction.  It also requires us to come to rehearsals prepared and ready to practice.  We expect our children to go to school with homework done and prepared for tests and quizzes, and the same is true with us.  When we come together in practice, we need to have prepared in advance so that our time together can be everything it should be for our Lord.  The times that we lead in worship, should be times focused on our amazing God, and that will happen when we are well prepared and in one accord. May the cry of our hearts this week be to seek excellence for our King!  

I appreciate all of you so much and know that God wants to do amazing things through us all!  

Blessings,

Allison Jordan
SHBC Praise Team