I have run the Rare Find feature several times on this blog. I love introducing you to people I believe are living the exemplary life of a Rare Rock. They don’t have to be famous or powerful or outwardly beautiful. These are simply people who are living life according to a higher standard, people pursuing the discipline of God, people embracing the life they have been given with gratefulness and grace.

Sometimes a Rare Find isn’t a person but a ministry or a church. These are the groups who are showing the world what it looks like to be a living stone. They might be fighting for global justice, washing the feet of the saints, or just trying their best to show others the love of Christ.

Today I’m thinking about a BIG group of people for my Rare Find. This could possibly be my favorite kind of person: a Rare Find in an unexpected place. This weekend Dan and I had the chance to travel to a church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to lead worship for their Sunday night service. We knew something of the congregation, mostly that they were small. We knew the pastor, and Dan was quick to tease him about the old choruses he made Dan play on the piano.

The room we entered surprised us. The decor was extremely modern, the location was downtown. Our sound tech offered his assistance in black clothes and the remains of many tattoos across his knuckles, but his spirit was sweet. He served us with excellence.

As the congregation entered the room we began to realize what a contrast there was between the mostly older people (“gray hairs” as our sound friend lovingly referred to them) took their obviously established seats in the room. When a singer/guitar player opened up with a Jesus people song that everyone in the room knew except us, I began to worry that our contemporary choruses weren’t going to go over very well.

But then I saw the sound guy in the back again, closing his eyes and worshipping along with a style of music that was clearly not his preference. Still, he understood that worship is for God, not for us. When we asked if there was anyway to get a little more sound coming out of our monitor he explained that he has to keep the sound levels low for this particular congregation. He was a humble servant, a Rare Find in an unexpected place. I felt like we might have been there just for him, and him for us.

Our sets went fine. The congregation was willing to try new songs and responded well to our pastor’s message that night. As we left the impressive brick building in the downtown area, Dan asked the kind woman driving us to the airport about a particular red truck in the parking lot, one of the last vehicles there. “I’m guessing that truck belongs to Chuck. Is that right, Ma’am?” Yes, indeed. There in the middle of a lot full of Lincoln’s and other sedans sat a hot red pick-up truck on lifts with flames painted up the sides and decals covering the back window.

That’s what I love about the Church!

The day after one of my earliest publications, author Margaret Feinberg left a compliment on my blog. I was moved by her generous spirit. I sent her a return email and found her to be a charming and gentle soul. I had already read parts of a book she had helped pull together and now went right out to buy The Organic God. I finished it the same day on a road trip.

In her new release, The Sacred Echo, Feinberg’s topic is prayer, and the conversation is framed by a prayer list in the back of her Bible. It is a prayer list that doesn’t neatly dissolve into a pile of yes’s or no’s. It is a list of names, and Feinberg shares the stories behind them as she offers her insights about her own prayer life.

I say offers because what I love about Feinberg’s approach is her humility. As a reader you never feel that Feinberg is repeating a line from a theology book or rattling off the advice of a noted speaker. Instead, you walk the journey of discovery as Feinberg allows you to look over her shoulder and be introduced to some of the people she prays for everyday. She is as likely to admit to not understanding God as she is to pull out fresh interpretations of well-read scriptures. So, while the trek through the book is guided by the familiar essayist’s style, the inspiration will sometimes be unexpected.

I appreciate that. For me, prayer has never been easy. I’m a rules person and I like the idea that if you follow the rules you will win the game. That doesn’t always happen with prayer. Almost six years ago I delivered premature twins knowing their lives were in danger. A large network of friends and family went to prayer immediately. (And I’m not talking about dinnertime blessings – I’m talking about intercessory gatherings.) Those baby girls were brought before heaven; God was petitioned on their behalf. And, still, one of them lived and the other one went home to Jesus.

Feinberg’s gentle voice comforts me. I know from experience that just praying harder or longer or louder is not the secret. Prayer is about learning to listen to the Sacred Echo – to know the voice behind the sounds. This book will wash over your condemnation and burn-out and help you move back in the direction of relationship. Feinberg’s language and style are simple, just what they should be to complement a sacred but practical pursuit of prayer.

Wedding season is ON in our little corner of the world. Dan and I do music for a lot of weddings, and summer is always the busiest time. We love weddings. We work with the brides to choose modern worship choruses that match her expectations for each special moment in the ceremony. And we always find time to share a smile or hand squeeze as a renewal of our own commitment.

This weekend, Gloria married Paul. It was a gorgeous outdoor wedding. In this picture you can see the bride and groom following the paved drive toward the reception on the front lawn. (Look carefully and you’ll see Ada watching Gloria in awe. My girls are wedding crazy!)

There are a million things to love about a wedding, but on this Saturday one of the things I enjoyed the most was the beauty of a Rare Rock on display. Gloria is a gem of a girl by all counts. I met her when she attended the Bible College where I teach. She is a passionate person, a dancer and a singer. Now that she has graduated, she manages the floor of our young women’s recovery center. She serves often unappreciative teenagers day in and day out without notice. I don’t know her entire job description, but I know it involves a lot of thankless hours and mounds of paperwork. And, despite all of that, I’ve heard that if one of the girls asks her, she’ll sing to them as they go to sleep.

On her wedding day, Gloria was like a priceless jewel finally taken out of its safe and put on display, if only for the evening. She was radiant. After the ceremony, an uncle of the groom remarked that he had never seen a bride coming down the aisle singing, “Holy, holy, holy” on a day that was supposed to make her the center of attention. It was certainly a beautiful sight: A gorgeous woman made even more beautiful by her devotion and purity to God. Of course the groom was an emotional mess! As he should be, he had won the heart of a jewel and her beauty was on display for all the world to see that night.

Abbey Curran is the reigning Miss Iowa and she recently competed in the Miss USA pageant as well. A beauty contest wouldn’t be the first place I’d look for a Rare Rock. Don’t misunderstand me, my sister and I relished watching these contests as a kid. It didn’t matter if it was a small-town festival or the big night on TV when all the fifty states were represented by some perky 20-year old in sequins. We loved it all. But now I’m trying to look for a standard beyond outward beauty to determine winners in this visually driven world.

Our country is obsessed with image and it is affecting the youngest of our girls. (I love Hannah Montanna, but you DO NOT want me to get into a discussion concerning her behavior at the Idol Gives Back show – seriously, don’t make me do it.) You may think I’m prudish about this, but it really is more than that.

One of my beautiful daughters has Cerebral Palsy. Just a few weeks ago Claire begged us to let her quit dance class. I cried when she said, “It’s too hard for me.” Last year she was twirling on the stage without a care in the world and this year she understands that her body is not moving in the same patterns as the little girls around her, including her younger sister. Claire’s left side has high tone, meaning the quad and calf muscles in that leg don’t relax the way they should. It gives Claire a little catch in her step and, until this year, kept her from running.

I’m not one to let my kids quit something just because it gets hard, but this was different. My husband and I had always talked about the fact that someday Claire would realize that dancing is a body-centric sport and even girls without disabilities find it difficult. We knew eventually she would find a hobby that challenged her but didn’t subject her to the prying eyes of an audience that didn’t understand. We didn’t expect it to happen when she was 5!

So we let her quit. She still dances at home with her sister and sometimes just on her own. She is at peace with this and so are we, but you can imagine my trauma for several days. I cried and I was pretty sure we should go out and buy her a fluffy puppy.

Yesterday Serenity told me about Abbey Curran, who also has cerebral palsy, and I watched her appearance on Ellen.

This is a Rare Rock. She is fighting a stereotype and going after her dreams. She has to fight her own insecurities every time she takes the stage, every time she goes to the mall. I showed Claire the video thinking it would be great inspiration, but since Claire really doesn’t comprehend that she has CP, and because it comes in so many different forms, the moment was kind of lost on her.

But I got it. Thank you, Abbey Curran!

I’ve been tagged for another book game, and, as Andrea commented, I like these tags because you can learn so much about a person by seeing what they are reading and how it affects them. But, since the books I’m reading are mostly literature anthologies, I’m going to use it as an excuse to review a book I’ve been wanting to highlight here for awhile. (It is Spring Break for me and I don’t want to be reminded that British Literature exists right now!)

I can’t remember which one of Gary Thomas’ books I read first, but several of them have been there for me at just the right moment. Soon after a relational split between some of my closest friends and leaders, I read Sacred Pathways and learned that differences in spiritual temperaments don’t have to be dividing lines, they can be sources of strength and inspiration. As newly weds, Dan and I took a Sunday School class that used Sacred Marriage as the text. Understanding marriage as a spiritual discipline intended to make me holy, not just happy, revolutionized my expectations for our relationship. My first year teaching a spiritual formation course, I reached for The Glorious Pursuit right away. Its focus on our embodiment of the virtues (gentleness, patience, love, chastity, etc.) as a measurement of spiritual growth – instead of measuring by amount of time spent praying or reading the Bible – is so helpful to Bible students hungry for true relationship with God but wary of anything smelling remotely of legalism. So, when Thomas’ new title came out last year, I was anxious to read it.

The Beautiful Fight did not disappoint! I was challenged by Thomas’ charge that we see this Christian life as more than just a “list of prohibitions.” Thomas claims that in our pursuit of righteousness we have made Christianity into a dull and lifeless religion that is more about what we don’t do than about what we have the possibility of becoming. But this is not a greasy grace message, on the contrary, Thomas believes if we truly understood the freedom that comes with holiness we would pursue it even more.

For me, the best part of this book was that it answered some of my deepest questions concerning my kids. (I have a secret habit of analyzing the characteristics of Christian families whose children have survived adolescence and college with their faith intact or, better yet, with their faith even more their own.) Here is the inspiring excerpt from the book:

The gospel of transformation is a far more powerful and inviting journey than the religion of prohibition. If we teach primarily that Christianity is about learning how not to do something, we will raise seriously frustrated children, because James promises us, “We all stumble in many ways” (James 3:2). A merely prohibitive faith will seem at first frustrating and eventually impossible. But when we teach how Christ transforms us and uses us, including sharing insights on how to experience God, know him, and be used by him; when we rouse people to join the Beautiful Fight — then each battle scar will build assurance, confidence, and joy. Every moment becomes pregnant with possibility…

I love this. I’m trying to incorporate it into my everyday life. This relationship with Christ is life-giving and should be demonstrated as such. I want my children (and my students) to chase a life of holiness because they are chasing a holy God. And he is so much more than a list of Thou Shalt Not’s. This book is excellent reading for a Rare Rock!

Last week was the Missions Conference at our church. It is my favorite (and busiest) time of year. Although I spend much of the conference being completely humbled by my comparative lack of commitment and faith, I am always challenged by the stories of the missionaries.

Earlier this year Dan had the opportunity to travel to Brazil to visit with some of the missionaries who attend our conference. Marcondes and Ruth Marques operate an awesome ministry called CBC, or, the Channel to Brazil for Christ. The primary tool of their ministry to street children is a supplementary education program called The University of Life. In Brazil only 8% of students will graduate from high school. CBC tries to fill the educational holes by offering tutoring in basic subjects as well as training in fine arts, sports, and computers.

When Dan visited last year, the most moving day for him was a Saturday when the students at The University invited the children in their neighborhoods to a special event on the grounds. Volunteers came in with hygiene lessons, make-up bags, and hair cutting stations. Dan said it brought tears to his eyes to see children washing the feet and hands of their young friends, literally scrubbing away their neglect and abuse with fingernail brushes and soap. By the end of the day, children left clean and coiffed. What a message of love.

You’ll love Serenity’s post about the Oscar party her friend Michelle threw for her. Red carpet and everything!

I wasn’t home and I don’t get ABC anyway, but I did catch some clips on YouTube, especially those mentioned by Seren. I loved the winning song from Once. That was beautiful. Almost as lovely were the acceptance speeches of the writers (who were also the actors in the movie). They were all about believing in your dreams and not giving up. (In really cute accents, which only serves to reinforce the magic!)

But my favorite part came when Jon Stewart brought the girl back out after the commercial break. She had been cut off and didn’t get a chance to give her acceptance. Stewart ushered her toward the microphone and said, “Enjoy your moment!”

How insightful of him. That was her moment and if he hadn’t stepped in, it would have been robbed from her. How gallant.  I teared up a little after he said that. He is Hollywood, afterall, and sometimes we imagine that they have no idea what matters to people in the real world. But in that gesture, he knew.

I loved it. It was my favorite part.