The opening to this psalm states that the psalmist will recount (give an account of an event or an experience) all the wonderful deeds (intentional acts) of the Lord.
That’s what I would like to do in this blog-space: give an account of a recent event in our lives that will end in ‘giving thanks to the Lord with my whole heart’ and hopefully will stir up your heart either to praise God or to serve someone else in a similar way. Or both.
What a perfect opening in Psalm 9:1 for the current season of life we find ourselves in.
A week ago, January 4th 2024, we woke up and went about our morning routine like any other normal Thursday. We were actually running a bit behind as our son decided to sleep in, which is a rarity during the 4-year-old stage of life.
By 7:55am, we were able to load him up into the backseat of my dad’s Jeep and kiss him goodbye, telling him I’d be over around dinnertime to pick him up.
Boy, was I wrong.
About 30 minutes later, around 8:25am, I got a call from my mom. My first thought was ‘uh oh, this is not a good sign,” as my mom and I communicate almost exclusively via text and there not a ton of communication to begin with.
“Your dad’s been in an accident. Everyone’s okay. Jackson’s okay. I don’t really know what happened.”
And then she went on to say how their neighbor from across the street named Wally was going to give mom a ride to the scene. We got there shortly after that call. EMS reported they checked Jackson out in the ambulance and he seemed perfectly fine. The Jeep dad was driving was about 150 feet out into the grassy median area between the east and west bound Snyder Freeway. Hood was raised. Front end completely smashed in from where he apparently hit the guardrail and re-rerouted into the grassy median, thankfully coming to a stop.
“Everyone is okay.” That’s the first thought. But that’s certainly not the only thought or feeling that floods your heart and mind during a traumatic event like that. Yes, it could’ve been much worse and it wasn’t. Yet, when it’s your baby boy (and my dad), it hits much different.
There’s no need to unpack all those thoughts and feelings, but suffice it to say, that event seemed to be the ‘icing on the cake’ of several back-to-back-to-back negative events in our family’s life recently.
Enter Daniel Melson and the power of community. He shot me a text early in the week asking how we were doing. Last Sunday’s community group time was heavy, and not just for us, but you realize within community that most everyone has something going on – either in their lives or in the lives of people they know and care about.
I responded to Daniel’s text by saying something to the effect of: “It’s been tough. Wife wants to stay home and keep him wrapped in a bubble forever (which was no lie).” I also said that the heat in her Malibu wasn’t working, which is unfortunate when you’re heading toward mid-January and the temps seem to suddenly drop from 45 degrees down to 10 degrees with little-to-no warning.
Daniel responded “what’s wrong with the heat?” and I explained it had been going on and off randomly for the last week or so. But more recently, had started to stay off for longer periods of time which was concerning.
Then Daniel started going to work. Granted, all I did was explain the car’s heating issue, I didn’t ask for any financial help. He said he knew a guy that ran a car care ministry in Mt. Washington. We dropped the car off Monday evening. Got a call Tuesday saying everything should be fixed, to which I was surprised as initially I thought it would take the mechanic until Thursday-Friday just to look at it.
Daniel drove us out to Mt. Washington (mind you – about a 30-minute trip from the south-end where we both live) Tuesday evening after his d-group wrapped up. We get out there, I turn the car on. Another blessing is that the mechanic fixed the loud sound her car use to make by fixing something with the exhaust manifold. So that was the first thing I really noticed a difference in. However, the heat didn’t work. I let it run for about 5 minutes, still no heat. Turned it off and back on and tried again – still no heat.
So Daniel drove me back home and followed up w/ the mechanic first thing this morning. The issue was an electrical component was faulty as well as the blower motor was shot and needed replaced. A few hours later, Daniel texted me that everything was fixed and good to go. Wife and I then drove out to the mechanic, picked it up, and drove it home with no issues. A quiet engine and plenty of heat. Praise God!
I write this as a testimony of God’s working in a world that often seems not to be. What do I mean by that? That it is possible, within a time-frame of 6 days, to go from a worried panic that our son and my dad could’ve both lost their lives to being blessed randomly by a brother I’ve gotten to know better over the last 2 months in our book group and blessed by our community group as a whole.
And even in that kindness, life still takes on sad tones. We have times, sometimes ongoing times, of not liking our job, of wondering how to wisely order and prioritize our time, especially with Jackson who today is 4 and tomorrow seems like he’ll be turning 18. Work in this context seems to get in the way – until we realize we need something off Amazon which seems to be weekly at this point. And it’s a frustrating cycle.
Yet, even within the frustrations of life, the Lord is still at work. I’ve seen it with my own eyes between Monday evening and Wednesday afternoon. Daniel Melson didn’t have to step into our issue – but he did. And he stuck with it and with us until it was taken care of. THAT’s the mark of a true brother because, what he’s really doing, is pointing us to the goodness of God through the love of community. The only reason other brothers and sisters want to help out is because they’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit and have experienced the same grace of the Lord that we’re experiencing. And it makes me want to bless others when the opportunity presents itself.
To close, Psalm 9:9b states “The Lord is…a stronghold in times of trouble.” And this truth, this reality, that the Lord is a stronghold (a place that protects against an attack) is what we as Christians should grab hold of and walk by faith in, and should drive our praise and worship. The recounting of the Lord’s deeds are most always deeds he did at our lowest points and during our darkest times.
And make no mistake about it: a quiet engine and heat blowing out the vents in wintertime are wonderful deeds. Thank you Lord for your provision and love on full display in the context of everyday, ordinary community.
The War Within 