I’m in Nashville for the rest of the week, attending the Tennessee Music Educator’s Association annual conference in conjunction with the All-State band and chorus clinics. Ostensibly I’m “chaperoning” 3 of my kids who made All-State choir this year, but that’s akin to holding my yard accountable for growing grass. They get a cursory check-in from me just so I can confirm they’re still alive and the lawn’s not on fire.
Last year this conference saved my sanity–I was in the throes of my first semester teaching high school chorus and not certain I’d survive the experience. Getting away from the choir room and hanging out with fellow chorus teachers (many of whom were my classmates at UT back in the day) was so helpful and so refreshing. It refilled my hope-bucket!
It reminds me of many, many Arts Conferences at Willow Creek that kept me in the game during my worship pastor days, so much so that I have to wonder if the main value of these conferences isn’t the content so much as the environment. Being away from what’s “normal,” whether it’s schedule- or duty-wise or simply being in a different city, may be all it takes to reset the system back to hopeful joy in the “normal” flow of life.
It’s a sabbath, a jubilee for people who don’t normally do sabbaths or jubilees.
I miss my normal, but am still so glad to be here. Let some other people do the teaching for two days. Let someone else lead the worship at Powell Church on Sunday.
I will simply rest and receive.
Until Monday….
Vaguely Familiar 
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