Joyful Noise

By Jane Thornton –

I hate exercise. People keep promising me a surge of pheromones after a workout. However, after I’ve made my quivering, jelly muscles scream for half an hour, the only part of me that feels better is my conscience. One thing makes the chore bearable—music.

This week, as I broke my eighteen-month exercise hiatus, I tuned my iPod to Soaring Favorites. Jackhammering my elbows and heel toeing my feet in a speed walk, ears plugged, I belted out Unchained Melody. A few barks, perhaps even whines, from the backyards I passed filtered in beneath the high notes, but I buried my awareness of them in the joyful power of the song. Just like the music enabled me to stuff my panting breath and stiff joints into my subconscious.

Other emotions wake to the call of music. A Facebook friend recently mentioned Taps played at a funeral. I was transported to my father’s graveside with the bugle’s clarion cry echoing in my heart. Tears of nostalgia and pride brim. Daddy’s love hugs me from beyond.

A tune will make me cry for someone else’s grief, as well. Add a melody to words, and they become a haunting tie to common sorrows. Songs have shared the pain of death, abuse, loneliness, and heartache—arousing empathy as nothing else can do.

Lyrics express so much, but a lingering note or a pounding beat sinks the words into our souls, making them resonate. Not only can I love with The Righteous Brothers and mourn with Stephen Curtis Chapman, but I can slash tires with Carrie Underwood and feel groovy with Simon and Garfunkel.

Often the music overrides the language. Several years ago, my kids—ages eight and five—and I serenaded ourselves as we drove down the road. We rolled along singing “He is exalted, the King is exalted on high.” We were obviously all on the same emotional track as we smiled and swayed. I paused a moment, and Matt’s childish, clear voice rang out, “He is exhausted, the King is exhausted on high.” I wonder why his young mind thought fatigue was a condition worthy of praise and celebration.

Honor does belong to musicians who share their gift with us, allowing us to express feelings we could never articulate through words alone, allowing us to experience emotion more fully than mere verbs and nouns permit.

The same joyous circle expands our worship—our songs both convey and foster our devotion. They have the power to bring us into God’s presence—or at least make us aware that He’s already here.

“The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’ Then the temple of the LORD was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God” (II Chronicles 5:13-14 NIV).

Comment prompt: Share a time music has enriched your experience.

Crappy Situation

By Elaine James –

My Auntie looked down at her folded hands in her lap and got very quiet. I was at the nursing home. It was a recurring moment of disappointment. None of her three daughters had shown up for a visit.

She broke the silence with tears streaming down her cheeks. “They should be here. I’m lucky if one of them comes once a month. Am I being punished? Maybe I did something wrong. What if they never come again?”

The nurse came in to administer her depression medication. In the last year, she had been hospitalized several times and was put in a closed psychiatric ward for severe depression.

On this day, I had come prepared to give my Auntie a loving message. She said “Life is meaningless. I feel empty inside.”

I explained what it meant to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “Auntie, people will let you down but Christ never will. Your constant battle with sadness is not helping you get better. Are you willing to give this crappy situation to God?” I paused. She seemed to be listening, so I continued. “I know it stinks, but you can commit your life to Christ and allow Him to help you. His loving arms extended wide open on the cross. Jesus’ death was a free gift that paid the penalty for your sins. It opened the door to eternal life.”

She admitted “It never was explained that simple before.” She prayed and asked God to forgive her sins and admitted she needed a Savior. We prayed for her daughters and asked God to help her with her depression.

I dedicated some time daily for a 2-3 minute phone call where we did devotions together. Then I tapered down to every other day and eventually, once per week. Within a month of praying that prayer, two Christian women from the neighborhood started visiting my Auntie on a regular basis. They had much in common and enjoyed each other’s company. Together they read the word and prayed.

When we face such situations, clenching our fists and demanding life be fair is not the solution. It is a continuing punishment that leads to depression. But when we open our hands up to God, inviting Him into our situation, it leads to unimaginable resolutions.

“God looked and saw evil looming on the horizon— so much evil and no sign of Justice. He couldn’t believe what he saw: not a soul around to correct this awful situation. So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation, fueled by his own Righteousness” (Isaiah 59:15 MSG).

Primed for a Downfall

By Dawn Wilson –

I was fifteen, and a bit of a show-off. One day I somehow got the bright idea that I could swing across the room holding on to two parallel counter tops—sort of like being on parallel bars at the gym.

“Look at me!” I yelled to everyone in the room as I ran, placed my hands on the two counters, and made a deep swing forward like an Olympic gymnast.

It was a glorious swing, but I didn’t land right. It wasn’t pretty. I fell to the floor, crashing hard on my rear end. Everyone gasped, but I don’t remember anyone coming to help. They just laughed.

I picked myself up and crept away in embarrassment, my posterior throbbing with pain.

Alone in another room, I remembered a scripture verse I’d heard as a small child. In a newer version it reads, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18, ESV).

Talk about a teachable moment!

Pride has been my big downfall for most of my life. Pride keeps me from being real and authentic about my needs. Arrogance makes me compare myself with others and believe I’m better, or if I see that I am “not enough” in my comparison, prideful insecurities make me cast blame or justify my lack. A haughty spirit says “It’s all about me” when the Bible clearly illustrates over and over again that my existence is all about God and His agenda.

I like to think that with wisdom I’ve gained more humility, but the opposite is also true. Proverbs 11:2 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (NIV).

Humility is a choice. The scriptures tell us to humble ourselves (James 4:10), and if we don’t, God will allow opportunities for us to be humbled, because He hates and opposes pride and the behaviors that come from self-exalting attitudes (Proverbs 8:13; James 4:6).

In Luke 1:52 it says, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones….” We see this in the life of King Nebuchadnezzar who lost his kingdom after he exalted himself. He suffered until he finally exalted “the King of heaven” (Daniel 4). Pride has brought down many leaders throughout history, but pride isn’t only a sin for kings. It is rooted in the hearts of every one of us.

J.C. Ryle wrote, “Pride sits in all our hearts by nature. We are born proud.” Pride blinds us to our faults, keeps us from admitting sin, makes us self-righteous, keeps us independent from God and others, and worst of all, is an obstacle to trusting in Christ.

One of the ways I fight pride is to embrace my identity in Christ. All that I am is wrapped up in what the Lord has done for me. I not only have a new identity in Him, but also absolute security, dignity and purpose.

Because I sense the destructiveness of pride, I tell people to be alert and watch out for it. If we allow pride to dwell in our hearts unchecked, we are primed for an eventual downfall. And believe me, it’s going to hurt.

The Manual

By Alan Mowbray –

I’m a technical writer. It gives me great satisfaction to create an elegant manual that will enable a customer to solve problems and operate their purchased software at its peak capacity. My manuals are free to all customers who purchase our product.

The catch? You have to read it.

Occasionally, a customer calls for help with a problem and the fix is, let’s say, on page seven. I could ask them, “Did you read the manual?”

If I did, the answer would always be the same. “I couldn’t find it” or “It’s not covered in the manual.” But you can’t do that.

Early on, I made the mistake of answering a customer’s cry for help with, “Did you look on page seven? It’s right there.” The customer was already frustrated—whether she read the manual or not.

Click. Dial tone.

Then she called my boss. Ahem, you only do that once. Time to enroll in Bedside Manners 101.
So when a customer calls and I perceive they never took the time to read the manual I wrote and could recite from memory, I refuse to take offense. I help them. I guide them through the process. At the end, I bring them to the manual and show them how to find the answer for themselves the next time.

Customer service is more than solving a problem, it’s also teaching. I spend extra time to help my customers to understand the product and manual. Because if you are successful and can solve your own problems by using the manual, you don’t need my help anymore and I’ve done my job.

God gave us a manual, too. The Bible. But instead of reading the Word of God and knowing it intimately, we skim through it in frustration or boredom—failing to find the answers we need. Then we complain to God or others, throw up our hands in defeat, or even worse, sit on the problem in silence until it gets uncontrollable and painful.

Our customer service skills can be just as bad. How can we expect to assist those who are spiritual newbies if we haven’t read—and understood—the Manual ourselves?

Our spiritual walk constantly shifts us back and forth between the status of student or teacher. At times, we end up being both. Ever been teaching and getting a download from the Father at the same time? So cool. But through it all, we need to understand our current status and act accordingly. And both require using The Manual.

As a teacher, your customer service skills can water a seed or kill it. If someone came to you for spiritual help—although you might like to—would you respond with a curt, “Did you even take the time to open your Bible and read it?”

No, you wouldn’t. With a gentle, loving heart, you would stop what you were doing, take the time to open The Manual with them, and show them what God says about that specific issue.

Jesus is the perfect example of this. Calm, loving, generous, and direct, He did everything in His Father’s power to help us. We need to be the same. When you hear that cry for help, apply love—and The Manual.

End of my customer service story—that frustrated customer that hung up on me is now one of the most knowledgeable customers I have. She could do my job. She doesn’t call with problems anymore, she calls just to say hi and tell me how much she appreciates the company I work for.

Job well done.

“I Pity the Fool”

By Janet Morris Grimes –

“I pity the fool who _______.” These words were made famous by Mr. ‘T,’ the daunting, Mohawk-topped figure of the one of the television series The A-Team a couple of decades ago. For those that did not see things his way, he considered them ‘fools,’ and had the strength, ammunition, and where-with-all to convert them into submission.

He taught quite a few lessons with this method.

God, however, does not handle things in this way. Sometimes, on my hard-headed days, I wish that He would. I would love for Him to blast me with a fireball to redirect my path. I need it to be that obvious, because there are times when I borderline on being foolish.

God has harsh, but loving, words for fools. The book of Proverbs is full of them. “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in his own opinion” (Proverbs 18:2 ESV). My favorite is this: “Like the lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools” (Proverbs 26:7 ESV).

God knew we needed guidance long before we did. He offers wisdom and points the way, but is our choice to accept it. It must break His heart when we repeatedly learn the hard way.

There are times that He seems to pull back, like a teacher during a test, to see what we’ve learned. Still, He always comes to the rescue when we call, even if our pain is a result of our own poor choices.

In recent months, life has taught me two great lessons about being a fool. First, God is not afraid to make a fool out of me, in the eyes of the world, if I pursue something that does not fall within His will, or if the timing is not yet right. This is a sign of love, correction, and telling me ‘no.’ It’s required of any loving father.

Satan also seeks ways to make a fool out of me. He stays on the prowl to find me at my most vulnerable state; alone and doubting. He longs for my story to story to end in defeat, for my words to become meaningless.

He would love nothing more than to make a fool out of me on a daily basis.

But He forgets that I belong to Jesus now, and am no longer available to him. Jesus now fights my battles for me, and sometimes, in triumph, I can almost hear him saying, “I pity the fool….”

PRAYER: Dear God, Your ways are not my ways. Thank You for that. Though I fail to understand, at times, where you lead me and for what purpose, I trust You. Guide my steps and protect me when I am at my worst.

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