Because our service times are so tight, I usually arrive at our Butler campus barely in time to hear the last song before I walk up on the stage to preach.
There’s a small row of chairs reserved for me and the guys who help me on Sunday mornings. On the front row. Best seats in the house, right?
You’d think so. But it turns out that because the speakers are positioned on the wings of the stage, the sound waves shoot right past those of us on the front row.
This creates an annoying dead spot… making certain parts of the mix (especially the lyrics) almost inaudible until about the fourth row back.
Funny huh? The people who are closest to the action have the hardest time hearing the lyrics.
There’s the analogy.

Here’s the application:
Those of us who are on the front row of what God is doing are in the greatest danger of having the sound waves shoot right over our heads. That is: we’re so close to the action that we lose a sense of wonder and gratitude. Because we see God do remarkable things day in and day out, we no longer hear the rumble and feel the vibrations. Church leaders can often find ourselves with the best seats in the house… straining to hear the lyrics.
In the dead spot on the front row.

(BTW, we now have center fill speakers to remedy this problem. But I’m not sure where that fits into the analogy. Maybe you can blog about that.)