This is how we know

Have you ever had something on your mind that you just can't seem to shake? Perhaps a news story you heard the night before or a song on the radio that struck a chord deep within. Perhaps a problem you've been trying to solve for ages now, but for some reason you just can't seem to make it work. Perhaps a comment you overheard or one you wish you'd had the nerve to share. Perhaps you're still mulling over that book you just read or that never-ending to-do list taped to the front of your frig. Even worse, perhaps you're just battered by that horrible fast-food jingle that flashes across the tv screen every 5 seconds! Either way, you know how it works... once that something or other sticks in your head, it's stuck there for good (or at least for a few days!).

Sometimes, though, the LORD is the source of that niggling something. I know. So often He'll have a Word for me... a lesson I need to learn (or re-learn!), and He doesn't "drop it" until I've successfully passed the test, so to speak. Oh, but then... there's more! Because just when I think I'm ready to move on, He throws another little reminder my way, just to make sure :) (Now of course some might call these reminders "coincidences." But I don't believe in coincidences. God-ordained encounters, yes. Coincidences, no.)

So today, as Big Man, Lolli and I waited for Noh-man outside the natatorium, Big Man discovered an old CD in the van's glove box... Hide 'Em in your Heart (volume 1) by Steve Green. In days gone by, it was one of my older boys' favorites. Big Man, however, didn't recognize the case and so he asked if we might listen to it. Sure, I said. So we stuck it in the stereo, listened to the first 2 songs quietly, and then, wham! It hit me. What hit me, you might ask? Oh, it was this song (scroll down), sung by Mr. Green and a precious chorus of children:

"This is how we know (this is how we know)

This is how we know (this is how we know)

This is how we know (this is how we know)

What love is (what love is )

Jesus Christ (Jesus Christ)

Laid down His life (laid down His life)

For us (for us)

For us (for us)

For us."

Aahhh, the beauty of child-like faith...

and the simplicity of the gospel.

Please Heavenly Father, may I never lose sight of your wondrous gift...

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

1 John 3:16