The little things

What has always amazed me is ...well...how does God think?  What influences His decisions to do certain things?  Why does He allow some to be healed of disease and others to die?  Ultimately, He is sovereign and in control of all things.  The Bible says that everything on earth is under Jesus' feet.  We trust that He know all things and all futures.  You can bog your brain down to think about it.  A co-worker of mine had a tragedy in her family.  Her son was in a jet skiing accident and had extensive brain damage.  His brain stem was badly damaged which usually means there is no hope.  People have been known to take people off life support once this happens from what I'm told.  The family has been around this boy and just waited to see what would happen, even though doctors have not been very positive in his outlook for life.  He's been like this for almost two months, no response.  I heard today that he is now responding and has miraculously come around and started to write on a dry-erase board.  He said he was hungry and wanted spaghetti.  He also named friends that he wanted to visit him.  It looks like he is a miracle in the working.  Huge praise.  I pray that if God does completely heal him that he will have a clear understanding of grace and love the Lord.  That's huge news. 

In other news, I really love how the Lord deals with me sometimes.  I've been out of myself for a while.  I'm sure you have all been there.  It's that part of faith that you just don't have a desire to do the things that you used to naturally do, well with God's help.  I haven't really done anything the past few months.  I read every now and then and still grow to an extent, but my life has not been the abundant life that I know is there.  The Lord has been slowly getting me back and it's neat when He does the little things that let me know that He still knows I'm there and cares.  I was telling a story about Tom Conlon tonight, a musician that I absolutely love and have for years.  I was talking about this one song he has, "Water", I've probably talked about it on here before.  It's one of the best written songs I have ever heard.  I was sharing a story about it with my roommies.  How God used that song many years ago as I was preparing to give a message one Sunday.  I had heard the song for years w/o fully understanding the meaning.  It was about 10 o'clock and I'm listening to it as I'm writing down some thoughts.  It finally hit me.  I had Tom's cell phone number so I called him.  "Hey Tom, this is justin tanner...blah blah, I finally understood and got your song."  I was just in tears sitting at my computer listening.  It just amazed me that I could listen to it all those years and never get it.  It was so refreshing to see what he was talking about.  The song is about getting outside of your comfort zone and sharing Christ with people.  He describes us as water that is just sitting, sitting, sitting so long that it has become stagnant.  I got this picture of water in an alley that has been sitting there for months.  It's smelly, green, things growing out of it, and it's just disgusting.  I realized that even though I have this gift of evangelism, I don't use it.  I'm rotten, literally.  Selfish, complacent, stagnant water.  He talks about picking a guy up on the side of the road, now that guy knows the Lord and has a family of Christians because you didn't have fear of picking someone up. 

So back to the story, I walk in my room after sharing this story about "water" and guess what's just started playing on my computer.  Yeah, "Water."  I just have to laugh and get a little teared up and say that God is still around, He hasn't gone anywhere.  He is still there and wants me to realize that He still cares about me and wants me to be a good steward of my life.  He's in everything, even the little things.

Water Lyrics

It's a silent night, I'm sleeping in my bed
A studio apartment with a dream in my head
But nothing much changes unless I change it
But one day when the time is right, i just might rearrange it


We are like water, we fit the container, we look for an outlet
we know we can't just remain there
It's all about flowing out into dry land
Open mouth, dirty hands.

I heard about you, making friends with a stranger
Now he's got a new family because you had no fear of a danger
But i had my days of waitin on a roadside,
for a friend like you, who wasn't afaid to give me a ride


We are like water, we fit the container, we look for an outlet
we know we can't just remain there
It's all about flowing out into dry land
Open mouth, dirty hands.

I found that I can be, a friend and a lover
I got sweet water to fill your cup
I got this well of life, the source is high above me
I just let it out, i just let it out
it keeps filling up, filling up, filling up with neverending love
Feeling up...

Children of the light, sons and daughters
sitting in buildings, standing water
maybe someday soon, our hearts will open
maybe one of these silent nights will rush like a river flowing

We are like water, we fit the container, we look for an outlet
we know we can't just remain there
It's all about flowing out into dry land
We are like water, we fit the container, we look for an outlet
we know we can't just remain there
It's all about flowing out into dry land
It's all about flowing out into dry land
Open mouth, dirty, dirty, dirty hands.
Making soil out of sand...