I have had a great deal of stress and heartbreak in my life for the last six to nine months, and I've done relatively little blogging about it. This is not because I feel as though it's too painful to share. On the contrary, I think blogging about it would've been therapeutic and might've even reached out to others weathering this storm. I've decided not to blog about this because of the sensitive nature of everything going on, and I think that to have spoken freely and publicly about what was truly on my heart would have been very damaging in many ways.
Some of you know that my church has really been put through the wringer for a long time now. This Sunday will be my pastor's last Sunday with us. It has been a long, painful road with her, and it has crushed my heart to have witnessed everything unfold. I can attest that there is some serious spiritual warfare going on, like none I've ever seen before, and even though there have been some sunbeams pop through the clouds along the way, there are still dark, churning stormclouds over head that simply refuse to burn off and go away.
The praise band has been practicing this song, and I hope we get to do it this Sunday. If not, at least I will have had a chance to lift it to the Lord as my true prayer here. I heard Matt Maher, writer of the song, "Your Grace Is Enough," talking about composing that song during a heavy time in his life. This upbeat song he described as a lament, and he was quick to remind people that God blesses us when we praise through hard times and suffering. I agree with Matt -- I, too, have had to do a lot of that in my life and know he's exactly right. So, that is my intent with my musical offering today; may it rise as incense before the Lord and be pleasing in his sight. Amen.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
My Belated MLK/Obama Post
It's often been said that the English language is one deficient of words to properly describe the human experience. For example, Biblical Greek has many words that all mean "love;" however, each word describes a different kind of love and leaves no shadow of doubt for the reader as to which type of love is being described.
I personally experienced this lack of adequate language this week when I was carefully crafting my tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Presidential Inaugural events of this week. After working for well over an hour on the perfect musical-blogtastic post, Blogger decided to steal my joy and eat my post, never to be enjoyed by you, The Readership. The injustice! The tyranny! O the conspiracy, Lord; how long will you ignore my cry??? I was so beyond having proper language to describe my anguish, I poured myself a rum and coke and called R. to clear my mind.
At any rate, I have been challenged by S4J to come up with something edifying to say about this experience. All I can think of is that the Holy Spirit knew that I could do better than that and made sure that the post didn't "make it to print." Instead, you will, God-willing, Insh'allah, get to read this one.
All I really want to say to sum up the lost post is that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is someone that I really admire. He stuck his neck out for something that mattered and held out for the right thing when it would've been so much easier in the short run to give in. He knew that the hard times were worth pushing through, and I believe he did this in the most godly way possible. Was he a saint? Surely not. I'm sure I'll read something tomorrow that I've never seen that says he did drugs or cheated on his wife or some terrible thing, although I'm not aware that he ever did any of that. In my mind so far, he is a champion to anyone who has ever been subjected to humiliation and inhumane treatment. The fact that he chose the hard road inspires me to do the same. I feel like President Bush had to chose to take the hard road and had the wherewithal to see it through, even though it cost him popularity points. I have more respect for someone who sees it through than one who caves to public opinion.
At the same time, just a day after we honored the memory of this amazing man, we placed an African-American in the White House. You all know I'm not a political fan of his, but I can't help but hope that somehow God allowed Dr. King to look down on or be aware of just what was going on as a way to say, "You see? You didn't die for nothing. Your life mattered!" This was a huge step for our country to take, and it's about dang time we did.
All that being said, I luuuurve this song by James Taylor. In fact, it's probably one of my three most favorites of his of all time. It's a perfect way to get our game face on for the next four years and put into perspective what needs to really happen in our country, regardless of political alignment and popularity contests.
I personally experienced this lack of adequate language this week when I was carefully crafting my tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Presidential Inaugural events of this week. After working for well over an hour on the perfect musical-blogtastic post, Blogger decided to steal my joy and eat my post, never to be enjoyed by you, The Readership. The injustice! The tyranny! O the conspiracy, Lord; how long will you ignore my cry??? I was so beyond having proper language to describe my anguish, I poured myself a rum and coke and called R. to clear my mind.
At any rate, I have been challenged by S4J to come up with something edifying to say about this experience. All I can think of is that the Holy Spirit knew that I could do better than that and made sure that the post didn't "make it to print." Instead, you will, God-willing, Insh'allah, get to read this one.
All I really want to say to sum up the lost post is that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is someone that I really admire. He stuck his neck out for something that mattered and held out for the right thing when it would've been so much easier in the short run to give in. He knew that the hard times were worth pushing through, and I believe he did this in the most godly way possible. Was he a saint? Surely not. I'm sure I'll read something tomorrow that I've never seen that says he did drugs or cheated on his wife or some terrible thing, although I'm not aware that he ever did any of that. In my mind so far, he is a champion to anyone who has ever been subjected to humiliation and inhumane treatment. The fact that he chose the hard road inspires me to do the same. I feel like President Bush had to chose to take the hard road and had the wherewithal to see it through, even though it cost him popularity points. I have more respect for someone who sees it through than one who caves to public opinion.
At the same time, just a day after we honored the memory of this amazing man, we placed an African-American in the White House. You all know I'm not a political fan of his, but I can't help but hope that somehow God allowed Dr. King to look down on or be aware of just what was going on as a way to say, "You see? You didn't die for nothing. Your life mattered!" This was a huge step for our country to take, and it's about dang time we did.
All that being said, I luuuurve this song by James Taylor. In fact, it's probably one of my three most favorites of his of all time. It's a perfect way to get our game face on for the next four years and put into perspective what needs to really happen in our country, regardless of political alignment and popularity contests.
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