A Season of Unexpected Blessings

After playing at my home church one recent Sunday, I was packing up to leave. There was a package to an old battery in my microphone bag. I left it on top of the piano backstage. Something said to me, "Go back and get that battery package." I ignored it at first, but I went back to the piano. Next to the battery package was my wireless microphone. I forgot to pack it. If I hadn't been obedient and gone back for the battery package I would've left my microphone, and probably wouldn't have seen it again.

I traveled to my hometown not long ago to support one of my best friends whose father had passed on. I called him the day before the funeral to tell him I was coming. I had told his son, my godson several days earlier but my friend had asked another saxophonist to play for the funeral. I was tempted to feel some kind of way about this, but decided that I would gladly support them with or without my sax.

I knew the saxophonist at the funeral. We got into a conversation about horns, and he told me about some horns he is endorsing, and he had some extra ones he was trying to part with. We agreed to meet at his home before I went back. Back story: I sold my tenor back in 2009 in tight times. I've been without one ever since. The other saxophonist let me have one of the tenors in his possession for a fraction of retail. This hookup wouldn't have happened if I had been the one playing at my friend's father's funeral. So as a result of yielding to Divine will, I now have a beautiful new tenor saxophone in my possession.

A note about this particular sax. It was produced by a company called CE winds. It has an engraving of a warring angel on the bell. This horn is a limited edition that was prayed over and anointed with oil to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Another unexpected blessing. And hopefully, more to come.

Sandy Hook Masssacre- The REAL Solution

I stood transfixed at the monitor in the lobby where I work. The crawl at the bottom of the screen said, "Report of a shooting at an elementary school in CT." As the day wore on, the grim details were revealed. As the father of school age children I was horrified. More so when I learned that the little school in the sleepy New England town only went up to grade four. More so when I heard that the victims were among the youngest at the school. And so on, and so on...

In the coming weeks and months we will be entreated to numerous discussions about gun control and mental health. And while these conversations need to be had, the reality is that all the gun laws and mental health advocacy in the world won't address the real problem: What we were witness to in the Sandy Point School shooting was nothing less than a manifestation of pure evil. There could be no more compelling evidence that Satan is real, and for all his attempts to appear as 'an angel of light', he can't help but let the mask slip, and expose himself in all his vileness and depravity as he did that fateful December Friday.

The GOOD news is, there is an answer. The only answer for this sin sick world. The answer is the divine power and love of G-d through Christ Jesus. This unspeakable tragedy is a tremendous opportunity for The Body of Christ to show that love to the world. Not by beating people over the head with our beliefs, but by an outpouring of love, the kind which has sprung up around the world in the wake of the atrocity. We are not promised a trouble free life, nor are we promised a tidy explanation of everything that happens, but we have the assurance that our Heavenly Father sits high and looks low, and will pour out His love and compassion on all who diligently seek Him.