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Days of Elijah

April 16, 2009 in friendship,grace,laughter,mercy with 16 Comments

These are the days of Elijah,
Declaring the word of the Lord:
And these are the days of Your servant Moses,
Righteousness being restored.
And though these are days of great trial,
Of famine and darkness and sword,
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord!’

Behold He comes riding on the clouds,
Shining like the sun at the trumpet call;
Lift your voice, it’s the year of jubilee,
And out of Zion’s hill salvation comes.

These are the days of Ezekiel,
The dry bones becoming as flesh;
And these are the days of Your servant David,
Rebuilding a temple of praise.
These are the days of the harvest,
The fields are as white in Your world,
And we are the labourers in Your vineyard,
Declaring the word of the Lord!

There’s no God like Jehovah.
There’s no God like Jehovah!

Copyright © 1997 Daybreak Music Ltd.

Late yesterday afternoon, I received a call from my friend’s daughter. You see, my friend is 71 years old and is dying of cancer. She was in the hospital, but is now in hospice care at home. Anyway, she was asking for me all day, and they finally got a hold of me. I sat with her, we prayed, talked and laughed. There is always laughter when I’m with my friend. I cannot express how special this lady is to me and my family. She is kind, compassionate, outrageous and funny. When I get to be her age (God willing), I want to be just like her. The video and the song lyrics posted above are “Days of Elijah”, the song she wants played at her funeral. No slow, sad songs for her! She wants people to celebrate God’s glory.

I’m going to go hang out with my friend some more today. I know she’s destined for a much better place. She told me she’s ready to go. But I just want to spend as much time with her as I can. I’m selfish like that…

Father Can You Hear Me?

November 22, 2008 in Diary of a Mad Black Woman,forgiveness,grace,mercy,redemption,Tyler Perry with 11 Comments

If you have never seen the Tyler Perry movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” then you are truly missing out. As a matter of fact, you should probably turn off your computer, go to the nearest Hollywood Video or Blockbuster and rent it. Better yet, buy it. If you’re like me, you will watch it over and over. Why? Because it is incredibly funny and incredibly poignant. And while the main character is indeed a “mad black woman”, it is not a “black” movie. (If there is such a thing.) It is a story of forgiveness and redemption; of God’s mercy and grace for us even though we don’t deserve it. I was a bit disappointed at how neatly everything was tied up at the end, but it is, after all, a movie and the message of the film is a powerful one despite the convenient ending.

The following clip is from the movie. Here’s a brief outline of the cast of characters:

-The young girl singing is Tiffany, the daughter of Brian, the gentlemen with the beard wearing a brown suit (Tyler Perry)

-The bald gentlemen is Charles, an attorney and the husband of the “mad black woman” who, after years of marriage to her, kicked her out their beautiful mansion and moved his girlfriend in. Before their divorce was final, he was shot by one of his clients and had to undergo some major rehab to regain the ability to walk and talk.

-The woman in the pink hat is Helen, the “mad black woman”. After the accident, she moved back into their home and helped nurse him back to health. (The girlfriend split after the shooting, but not before cleaning out Charles’ bank account.)

-The woman sitting next to Helen is Myrtle, Helen’s mother and a devout Christian.

-The woman who enters the church towards the end of the scene is Brenda, wife of Brian and mother to Tiffany. She no longer lives with Brian because she became a junkie. She was also Helen’s childhood friend. Just prior to this scene, she checked herself into a detox center and has presumably kicked her drug habit (like I said, it’s a movie).

Okay. Were you able to follow all that? There is so much more in this movie that I won’t mention here, but hopefully I’ve set the scene up adequately. To truly appreciate how awesome this clip is, you have to see the movie. I have seen this movie at least 10 times and I have yet to watch this clip without crying. (But I’m kinda sappy that way.)

Even if you don’t like the movie, you gotta admit that is some SERIOUSLY AWESOME gospel going on up in that church! Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned Madea – Helen’s aunt. She alone is worth the price of admission! Just go get the movie!

For Christine (and others like her)…

July 24, 2008 in ADD,artists,christianity,Christine,darkness,light,mercy,The God Who Smokes,Timothy J. Stoner,wrath with 8 Comments

I’ve got a few ideas for posts swirling around my head in their usual disorganized states of confusion. I’ve even written a rough draft for one in particular that I just need to research a bit more and tweak here and there. But until then, I came across a passage in one of the books I’m reading that beautifully reflected the heart of an artist who has chosen to follow Christ. “The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations of Faith”(1) by Timothy Stoner (yes, that’s his real name) has served as a much needed reminder that the God of Mercy is also the God of Wrath. May I never forget that!

Anyway, the following passage reminded me of my dear friend and fellow believer Christine. So this is for you:

The artist who follows Jesus explicitly resides in the world and participates in culture in a truly unique way. She helps others pay attention to, take notice of, and celebrate the goodness of the good creation. She does not shy away from the dark and the broken, the sorrow and terror–but crafts it in such a way as to point toward hope. It is revealing a pathway out of despair and chaotic meaningless. Her work is a candle that flickers and flares.


Her art is for the good of the world.

She does it for the blessing of the world.

She is intent not on reinforcing the curse but breaking it. She has and is a gift. She is sent, like Jesus, to open the eyes of the blind, open the ears of the deaf, or give words to the mute. She is sent on a mission of freedom. Her mission mirrors that of her Savior. She is sent to break chains of despair, set at liberty those tied up with cords of emptiness, futility, and death, and bring sight to those who have lost the capacity to see. She is sent to give us the forgotten vision of the glory that peeks out behind the bush and branch and sea and life as it was meant to be. She sings and shrieks and falls to rise again, to give voice to what we’ve forgotten or refuse to hear.

She pours out her blood that a world may be saved.

She serves not always willingly or well but in her best moments, when she has forgotten herself, she serves.

Still, her loyalty is not here. She has had her idolatrous attachment broken. She is free to be in but not of . She is not slavishly loyal to the patterns, the values, the demands, and commands of a world in love with itself. Her eyes look up even as she looks out, and in looking around she sees through. She is not bewitched by appearances nor overly and permanently distraught. She has seen a city whose builder and maker is God, and she pines for the day when it will come here so there will be light forever.

And the light will be the love and the joy of her life.

She has this secret. Her heart has been captured by a lover who is out of this world. But He is coming back. She wants to make herself ready and her friends and ever her enemies , too. So she does her work as best she can and prays that it is good, that it will shine so brightly as to bring glory not to her but to Him.


Thank you, Christine. For recognizing the darkness and the light in my heart. And inspiring me towards greater works of art for His Glory.

(1) Stoner, Timothy.
The God who smokes: scandalous meditations of faith
published by Navpress, 2008