G.O. 2005: Namibia (pt. 20)
Summer Of ‘69
Those were the best days of my life…
It all started innocently enough. Desiring a little down time, Dave and I left the rest of the team and sat out under the stars, in front of the Zebra Lodge, with a couple acoustic guitars. We played through every song that came to mind. Then it happened. One of us strummed a D-chord, and the other began jokingly with a Bryan Adam’s, raspy vocal imitation, “I got my first real six-string…” That was all it took. The next thing we knew we were strumming and singing through the whole song. As we did, a couple of the dancers wandered up behind us. From that point on it was requested every time we gathered around the fire to sing worship songs.
The lyrics of the song recall a great summer and experiences that seemed as if they would last forever. The songwriter goes on to proclaim, “Those were the best days of my life”. At that moment, in that setting, it felt like the song expressed what many of us were feeling.
When we were planning the worship service for our first Sunday back from Namibia, I decided that I wanted ‘Summer of ‘69’ to close the service. We asked two of the dancers to sing with us that morning, adding Sam and Michelle into the band. I thought about the fact that in years gone by I would have scoffed at the idea of using ‘secular’ music during a ‘sacred’ assembly. What is secular? What is sacred? Now, I recognized a great artistic work that carried within it an experience of our celebrating God’s goodness to us in this trip. I didn’t think for a moment that it dishonored God – I was sure it would cause Him to smile, as it would many at Christ’s Church that morning who would ‘get it’.
What made up those ‘best days’? Certainly the things that I’ve chronicled over these twenty installments make up the bulk of it. But there were also so many little things that added up to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There were the infamous ‘shower runs’ of the early days of the trip, when we had no running water in the dorms at Dieter’s place; the unexpected knock on the window of our combee during one of those shower runs that startled the girls to a scream; our July 4th celebration, complete with a member of our team telling the South African team members that our country was “old… maybe like 75 or something”; and the girls re-write of ‘Love Shack’ for Dieter. The best days of life are made up of just such things – the little, the seemingly insignificant – but things that are shared as life’s journey with others.
This trip was made extra special for me in that two of my daughters participated, and made me very proud. For Amanda it was her second trip to Namibia, and like before, she once again showed me what a tremendous young woman she is, and how vibrant her faith is. She brought ‘Hallelujahs’ to life for us all. Katie was the youngest team participant we’ve ever taken on one of our G.O. Teams, and she performed like a seasoned veteran every step of the way. Her video taping of much of the trip keeps the memories alive for us all. I am such a proud Dad! I love my girls more than they’ll ever know, and part of it being among ‘the best days of my life’ is that I got to share this trip with them.
Eighteen months have passed. We continue to hear of the fruit of that summer’s trip. We continue to look back at the lessons of that trip as we look into the future. There is talk of possibly doing it again some day. There is talk of a different kind of trip. There are daydreams of the next God-inspired, Him-credible crazy idea we can draw up. So we look forward.
But every now and then I hear those familiar strains on the radio – that D-chord riff – it takes me right back. Those were the best days.
Those were the best days of my life…
It all started innocently enough. Desiring a little down time, Dave and I left the rest of the team and sat out under the stars, in front of the Zebra Lodge, with a couple acoustic guitars. We played through every song that came to mind. Then it happened. One of us strummed a D-chord, and the other began jokingly with a Bryan Adam’s, raspy vocal imitation, “I got my first real six-string…” That was all it took. The next thing we knew we were strumming and singing through the whole song. As we did, a couple of the dancers wandered up behind us. From that point on it was requested every time we gathered around the fire to sing worship songs.
The lyrics of the song recall a great summer and experiences that seemed as if they would last forever. The songwriter goes on to proclaim, “Those were the best days of my life”. At that moment, in that setting, it felt like the song expressed what many of us were feeling.
When we were planning the worship service for our first Sunday back from Namibia, I decided that I wanted ‘Summer of ‘69’ to close the service. We asked two of the dancers to sing with us that morning, adding Sam and Michelle into the band. I thought about the fact that in years gone by I would have scoffed at the idea of using ‘secular’ music during a ‘sacred’ assembly. What is secular? What is sacred? Now, I recognized a great artistic work that carried within it an experience of our celebrating God’s goodness to us in this trip. I didn’t think for a moment that it dishonored God – I was sure it would cause Him to smile, as it would many at Christ’s Church that morning who would ‘get it’.
What made up those ‘best days’? Certainly the things that I’ve chronicled over these twenty installments make up the bulk of it. But there were also so many little things that added up to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There were the infamous ‘shower runs’ of the early days of the trip, when we had no running water in the dorms at Dieter’s place; the unexpected knock on the window of our combee during one of those shower runs that startled the girls to a scream; our July 4th celebration, complete with a member of our team telling the South African team members that our country was “old… maybe like 75 or something”; and the girls re-write of ‘Love Shack’ for Dieter. The best days of life are made up of just such things – the little, the seemingly insignificant – but things that are shared as life’s journey with others.
This trip was made extra special for me in that two of my daughters participated, and made me very proud. For Amanda it was her second trip to Namibia, and like before, she once again showed me what a tremendous young woman she is, and how vibrant her faith is. She brought ‘Hallelujahs’ to life for us all. Katie was the youngest team participant we’ve ever taken on one of our G.O. Teams, and she performed like a seasoned veteran every step of the way. Her video taping of much of the trip keeps the memories alive for us all. I am such a proud Dad! I love my girls more than they’ll ever know, and part of it being among ‘the best days of my life’ is that I got to share this trip with them.
Eighteen months have passed. We continue to hear of the fruit of that summer’s trip. We continue to look back at the lessons of that trip as we look into the future. There is talk of possibly doing it again some day. There is talk of a different kind of trip. There are daydreams of the next God-inspired, Him-credible crazy idea we can draw up. So we look forward.
But every now and then I hear those familiar strains on the radio – that D-chord riff – it takes me right back. Those were the best days.
1 Comments:
Thanks Darin,
D
By Anonymous, at 12/15/2006 5:15 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home