MUSIC BLOG 10-17-2024
MUSIC BLOG
10-17-2024
God, Please Bless Us
October 2004 has been a busy month. Well, not that I actually have slow months. For those of you who know me, I seem to fill a calendar better than most. October, has seemed very busy with quite a few short trips that take me away from the office and home. We ended September with a bang. One the last Sunday of the month our church celebrated 150 years of being a church. We had a weekend full of concerts, fun days, services and meals. I was busy every night of the week leading up to Sunday. The following week, was the beginning of October. We had a visit from one of our presidential nominees. I had reservations to go and we just couldn't go. We were tired. However, immediately following the rally I received a call from a friend who told me that every attendee to the rally had brought a donation for the folks in the Western part of the state, those who had suffered so much during the hurricane. So I put on my shoes and headed out the door to load and transport more bottled water than I ever want to see again from the rally site to our church. I got home and to bed right after midnight. The following Monday I took a group of senior adults to the beach for a Baptist Senior Adult retreat. It was great, but I had no rest. Upon returning we had baked goods to get ready for the state fair. Ronda had 18 entries and I had 10, (I won’t find out the results until we go to the fair tomorrow!) We were up to midnight every evening that week and we made a quick trip to Raleigh to deliver our entries after Sunday morning worship. The next day I was supposed to go to Winston-Salem for a Senior adult choir festival. The choir member who was to go with me got sick. I can’t say I was sad. I thought to myself, “Finally. Now I have a minute to gather my thoughts!” Then came Sunday night. I couldn’t get a hold of my friend that we usually eat Sunday evening meal with. I tried the wife’s phone, then my friend's phone, then his daughter’s phone, and then the son-in-law’s. Each time the phones went to voice mail. My friend had not been feeling well recently. I called the hospital and asked for my friend. The receptionist looked for my friend in the hospital roll but didn’t see him. I felt a rush of relief only to have that feeling shattered moments later when our phone rang with the news that my friend was being transported to the hospital by ambulance. I went to the hospital and waited to see him to no avail. I left at 1:00 a.m. and went back to the hospital at 8:30 a.m. While I was texting the church I received word that another dear friend of mine had died on the previous day. By this time I realized how blessed I was. The fact that I was not in Winston-Salem but rather in Fayetteville so I could minister to both families and get prepared for the upcoming funeral was huge. God knew all along where I was supposed to be and what I should be doing.
As I look back at the month, I wonder how unaware I am of how God works in my life. I am so fraught with feelings. Sometimes I allow my feelings to excuse a bad attitude or bad behavior. Things happen that I don’t anticipate or prepare for and in the course of dealing with the ensuing situation, I’m not aware of how God has carefully orchestrated every part of the situation. It just so happens that both of these men are some of the godliest men I know. Some people might think that God somehow left them on their own, and abandoned them. These men, however, recognized that God is or was at work in every situation.
God may indeed be at work in the things we call blessings, but I was reminded this week that everything that God is in IS BLESSED! God is GOOD. All His ways are blessed. God is happy. I didn’t realize that fact until this week. Jesus told us in the story of the 3 servants that the master said, “Come and share in your Master’s happiness!” I think of God in many ways: comforter, healer, provider, strong tower, Mighty God, Everlasting Father …. but now I can add Happy God to my list. That really blows me away.
Are you struggling in your every day every day? Maybe it would help you to think that God has carefully orchestrated your situation, whatever that looks like. Your joy, your pain, your sorrow and your victory has been chosen for you. God is not an angry God when His children are concerned. He loves them. He loves you and me. I didn’t get to go to a city I loved and do a thing I loved so I could be here with people that I love and do loving things for them. Wait, maybe I can hear God saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in a few things, I will make you in charge of many things. Come and share in your Master’s happiness!” You are making God happy by your faithfulness in those little things. If God can rejoice and be happy, maybe we should too.
Blessings
Marty
Psalm 118:22-29
22 A stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This came about from the Lord;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let’s rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Please, O Lord, do save us;
Please, O Lord, do send prosperity!
26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God, and He has given us light;
Bind the festival sacrifice to the horns of the altar with cords.
28 You are my God, and I give thanks to You;
You are my God, I exalt You.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His mercy is everlasting.