It’s been a while since I have written a blog, but this morning our Psalm for the day began,
“Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Its time to sing to God a brand-new song so that all his holy people will hear how wonderful he is!” (Ps. 149:1)
Our reading from the B.O.M. was entitled, “Into the Deep”, and this confirmed to me that I should begin to share with you something of the journey I have been on recently, as I have responded to Jesus invitation that I should ‘forsake the shallows’, to go fishing with Him!
A few months ago, ‘out of the blue’ I developed a severe skin rash. It began on my head, face and neck and subsequently spread over much of my body. It was extremely itchy keeping me awake night after night. I knew It was little or nothing compared to the suffering of others and of Christ on the cross, but for someone who has been blessed with good health for much of my life it propelled me far out from my ‘comfort zone’, and into the deep.
We had to postpone the Freedom! retreat scheduled for October as I looked and felt like a Halloween goblin : – ) Even my kids didn’t recognize me when Hilary sent them a photo!
This ‘into the Deep’ experience however inevitably shaped what I imparted when we finally did host the retreat last weekend.
“Out of the depths I wailed.
‘O God how I have failed.
This time It’s more than I can bear.
O my God!……….Could you still be there?'”
On the first night of the retreat, I resurrected this song which I had written as a result of another testing time just after we moved to the USA 28 years ago, singing it this time with an even deeper level of understanding.
The next morning I proceeded to talk about the first step of ‘Repentance’. Then one young lady who had clearly been touched from the the night before, spontaneously cried out,
“But I am so messed up! Nobody in my family believed in God, so when I was 18 I had a serpent tattooed on my shoulder. I could never repent from all the shit that has been a part of my life!”
I looked her in the eye and said,
“You just did! Your calling your past “shit”…. That is repentance!”
What joy to see her smiling face and hear her testify at the end of the retreat how she was now free. – rid of that “shit”!
A few weeks ago I found myself sitting at the dinner table with Robin and Ben, sharing with them about the journey I had been on. I realized they were nodding their heads not just in respectful agreement but in heartfelt identification. They had both been there!
Last Tuesday at Robin’s CD launch at the 331 Club, he Ben and I shared the stage for a ‘Round Robin’ as we took turns to spontaneously choose a song to sing and talk about the story behind it.
“Grace” turned out to be a common thread for the the first round.
Robin then shared a song that came out of the fiery trial of the amputation.
Ben followed with a song about his battle with ‘Lyme’s disease when at one point he couldn’t even remember the names of his children. I realized where we were going this time, so again I began….
“Out of the depths I wailed….”
The final round produced some tender love songs.
Again Holy Spirit had been working the magic in another young lady’s heart. Junk from her past and her own ‘fiery trial’ had produced in her a desperation for something different, something better, something more, something intimate……real love!
I found her at the end hanging on to Hilary…… tears flowing. They didn’t stop for hours.
Within a couple of days we had launched out “Into the Deep” and watched the Master Angler, make two perfect catches.
I started this blog this morning with the story of Jesus and the disciples launching the boat “Into the Deep“.
At lunch Hilary and I reviewed the snippets of the night she had captured of each of the three of us singing a song.
I smiled when she finally showed me Ben’s one.
Oh! …The synchronicity of our Dad : – )
P.S. You can get your own copy of Robin’s new CD, “The Rubicon is a Red River,” at robinkyle.com
The official release date is next Tuesday, 11/22/22 when it will be available on Spotify and other digital platforms.