Seriously...go back to sleep

I really needed this day. I woke up early and got ready to go to church. Now I wasn’t that sleepy, but I really heard God’s voice tell me to go back to sleep. I know that sounds crazy. But I heard it quite clearly over and over again. But I tried to ignore it. So I got in the shower and got ready to go. Then I heard the voice again, to go back to sleep. I know this sounds crazy because if you are a Christian, you are supposed to go church. We go on Fridays, the first day of the weekend here. So finally I heard the voice again, Go back to sleep. Then I realized why. I set my computer clock to West Coast PST time. We are about 10 hours ahead here. So I always subtract two hours and I know what time it is here. Well every once in awhile I forget that my clock is set this way. So as I walking out the door, I grabbed my cell phone. It wasn’t 9:30 a half hour before church. It was 7:30 am…2.5 hours before church. No wonder the voice was telling me to go back to sleep. So I did just that. My alarm went off at 9:00 the right time, and I was about to get up up, when I heard the voice again. Go to sleep. So I argued with it. I can’t go to sleep. It’s a commandment, Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Then that voice told me very clearly, you can keep the Sabbath Holy, and not go to church this time. So that’s what I did. I went back to sleep. I had such a stressful week, I think that God wanted me to get all the rest I needed in order to stay healthy. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day for work for me as well. I have to get up early and re-record a VO session, then in the Afternoon, the clients are going to come by the office to do the final approval on the video #2. That means I have three days to edit video #3, and I’ve been doing this myself all along, so I can’t delegate it out to my staff. I have to stay very focused this week as it will be a long one. So I think that is what this morning was about, rest and preparation. So I did have a great communion with God all morning. But wouldn’t you know it, my pastor, Graeme, emailed me and told me he missed seeing me at church. It’s a church of 500 people, how did I not slip by him. So its kind of funny if you think about it. I am supposed to go to lunch on Monday with him. My small group is listed in the church bulletin and thus endorsed by the church. But the elder I answer to, is not a Joel Osteen fan at all. In fact he is quite a critic as many people are. So the Pastor asked me to bring some material from Lakewood so he can make his determination. It’s a shame really, here Osteen is doing really great work, but most of critics come from within the church. My life was dramatically affected in a positive way by his philosophies…they work and they are biblical. I think Im the poster child for the power of positive thinking and giving it up to God. I’ve had so many come and go from my group, both Christians and Non-Christians. They have all been encouraged and enlightened. Who knows what seeds were planted. But I’ve been witness to several people that have come to my small group that have turned their lives closer to God. So I know its working. Plus I have designed my group not for the church people. I want the seekers. We only have one person that comes to my group from the church, so if they don’t want to endorse me that wouldn’t be the end of the world. I’d still meet with my group every week with or without them. But obviously I hope its with them. But my calling from God isn’t dependent on them.

So I slept a lot today preparing for the week. Went on a really long kayak ride across the bay. It was nice as the water was calm. Then I had to rush off to judge a comedy competition. Imran, one of my better comics from the Funniest Person competition is trying to establish Stand up comedy here. So he is helping me and I am helping him. I had my friend John, who also judges the Funniest Person as my co-judge. Most of the acts were pretty funny. But then at the end it got a little testy. Apparently some of the Saudis in the back took exception to some of the material that was being directed at them. It was really harmless stuff but because it was coming from an Indian…it didn’t go over so well. They started to create a scene that took away from the contest. Still there were some great acts. We were supposed to select 3 out of 9 to move on to the main show next week. Im proud to say that 2 of the 3 were performers from my Funniest Person contest. Imran wanted me up on stage for a few words. So I took the mic, and said there’s only one thing I would have done different…More Saudi jokes. Imran put his head in his hands (politically) and I got a great reaction from the crowd…but not the offended Saudis in the audience. Its comedy…its all fun and games and everyone takes a dig at each other.

At the after party many of the contestants who are also a part of either my acting classes or the competition, thanked me for helping them have the courage to get up there to perform…I was quite proud.