“Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.”
Sometimes life comes at you hard and fast with no warning. Situations and circumstances change in the blink of an eye. I think back to several years ago when here in Maryland we experienced what is called a nor’easter. It is a quick and sudden storm. I’m not just talking about a little bit of rain. I mean it’s borderline tornado weather.
I remember driving one night. It was a clear summer night. I literally blinked and it went from a warm night with a gentle breeze to rain and strong winds. I could hardly see the road in front of me. This storm knocked power out in the area for days. The next day was a bright sunny day with a clear blue sky. Hardly any traces of the weather that swiftly came through the city the night before.
Life can be like that nor’easter. Everything is calm and then all of a sudden things change. This is where you find out what you really know and what you really believe. It’s not just bouncing around when everything is perfect and shouting cliches like “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” Nope. It’s when times get tough and you find out if you believe what’s in this Bible.
I recently had my brother murdered. As tragic as the incident was I just kept feeling this knowing on the inside that God is going to make something good out of this. I couldn’t see how and don’t know how, but I believe in my heart of hearts that it’s true. I shared that encouragement with family members. Sometimes with a smile and other times with tears running down my face. No matter the emotional state I believed without a shadow of a doubt that God’s word is true.
This time of grieving brought us closer together as a family and even changes in the neighborhood. We could see the influence that my brother had in his community. I started to see how God was taking something so tragic and make something good out of it. Just like baking a cake. All of the ingredients by themselves aren’t good, but when you start to mix them together in the end they make something good. Then the chef is applauded.
Our master chef is God and by His Spirit He moves in, through and around us to make something good. That’s why in the midst of it all we can give Him praise and unashamedly proclaim God’s goodness to the world!
That leads us to our Throwback Theology Song of the Week. It is from the awesome Trip Lee and the rest of the 116 Clique. It is from Trip Lee’s 2006 album entitled “If Only They Knew.” The featured track is called “Holla 116.” Tune into the Trackstarz show this week to hear DJ Jeremaya spin this for the Throwback Theology Song of the Day. Until next time…
Peace and blessings,
Damo
https://open.spotify.com/track/3UTdlSUVf9f47N636NfJYh?si=kPwRs-sPSyiBQWFzdfvQ3w
