Happy New Year, Blog Readers! Yep, I know it is Jan. 21 but I haven't had the chance to wish you well for 2008. Indeed I pray that all goes well for you in this year. So what thoughts have been running through this mind of mine since we last communicated? Many things but I just don't have time to put it all in the blog. However, after reading a friend's blog, I realized I have been pondering on somethings and figured it was time to share. (DISCLAIMER ---WARNING - this is a long blog, get some juice, a snack, and use the potty.)
My church has been going through it's annual 21 Days of Spiritual Renewal services or a revival as most would call it. For me, I thought of the term a "Spiritual Pep Rally". Yall remember pep rallies from high school. (I know some of yall got to go back alittle bit further in time...hee hee). But in case it was too long ago, remember pep rallies were usually that Friday during the school day before homecoming or a big football game. The whole school would gather in the gym, auditorium, or on the football field. The band would play, the cheerleaders would cheer, and the team would be introduced. Everybody was so pumped up. I remember my senior year, my high school principal even did a little rap which at the time made him very cool. Anyway, the purpose of the pep rally was to get the school excited about the upcoming game and show undying support for the team.
Now of course, this comparison sparked from reading an email I received. It was one of those emails where the author has listed all these things women need to do when looking for Mr. Right from a spiritual perspective. Oh yeah, one of those...now don't get me wrong, it was good stuff and any lady looking for Mr. Right would no doubt be pumped after reading it. But then I thought, "we have heard all this before, we get excited but then, "plop", it's over and we are right back where we started. Like a football pep rally or a spiritual pep rally. I hear yall now, "oh here it comes"...Yes, here it comes, cause I have been pondering on why don't we stay pumped, especially when it comes to spiritual matters.
Think about the excitement at the pep rally. You love the team, they love you! RAH! RAH!!! Go TEAM!!! Then the night of the game, your team, who you swore your undying support and devotion to starts to lose. In fact, things are pretty pitiful. Then it happens, slowly the cheers fade, the love dissipates, sometimes, you get downright ugly! By the end of the game, the stands are empty. I often wonder how the players feel when they see that they have been turned on and abandoned. No doubt they want to go home too but they have to play until the clock hits "00:00". GAME OVER! But what do we do? At the next pep rally, we are back and cheering...why didn't we stay til the end of that game?
So here we are going to church every Sunday, pumped and ready for the week. The preacher is the cool, rapping principal, the choir is the cheerleaders, the congregation is the fans and who is our team, The Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost!!! But as soon as we think our team (who by the way is never going to lose) is not playing like they should, we stop cheering, love dissipates, we get ugly, or we just plain turn our backs on the players. Although some of us come back to be pumped up again but in the meantime, we have probably thought, said, or done some things that are contrary to God's Word making things worse not better. We lost sight of the fact, God's is gonna win and no matter what is going on, He is still God. A Sovereign God!
We need to be more like 3 of my favorite bible heros, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. You know the fellows in the fiery furnace. UH, what's that? Don't I mean Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Yeah that's them. But those were their Babylonian names given to them by a chief official. Their mama and 'dem named them Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. You see, it was Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah who grew up knowing the true Almighty God of Israel. Regardless of what the king called them, they knew who they were and Who they served. Now of course you don't have to believe me...read it in Daniel 1:6-7:
6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
Even Daniel had a new name. But for some reason, we always call him Daniel. No one ever says "Belteshazzar and the Lions' Den". Anyway, most of us know the story of the fiery furnace. King Nebuchadnezzer builds this huge idol and wants, no, demands everyone to bow down to it at the sound of the music. No doubt the king wanted to have a little pep rally for his statue. But my boys were like, "we ain't bowing, not today, not ever". So some haters told the king. Now I bet these tattle tales didn't want to bow to no dumb statue either but they didn't have the guts to say no. King Neb - 1; Team HMA - 0. Well, the king gets mad and says well, you gonna die if you don't bow. That king was something else. King Neb - 2; Team HMA - 0. Not looking good for Team HMA.
So the king asks, will your god save you if you get thrown in the fiery furnace? I bet he was smirking too, like his gold statue could do any better. Now, if this were us, we probably would have fell apart..."Alright King, we'll bow. But we ain't gonna mean it." We probably said that last part under our breath. I mean, who is really ready to go through the fire for the Lord? We can't even stand the little bit of heat we go through before we lose our pep rally spirit, much less be faced with life or death. Who are we kidding?
But we are not TEAM HMA either. Cause look at what they tell the king, Daniel 3: 16 - 17:
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Check them out. Did you see that? They said, God can save us but if he doesn't, we ain't bowing!" So let me get this straight. They know God can save them. But they know He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. There is a chance God won't give them what they want? And they are okay with this??? WHAT??? HOW??? WHY??? King Neb - 2, Team HMA - 1. Of course, this ticks the king off. So he says make the fire hotter than ever! In other words, the king is done playing, he's bringing out the secret weapon to put this game out of reach. The "TOM BRADY pass to RANDY MOSS"of all fires! King Neb - 3; Team HMA - 1.
So in the fire they go, but wait, TEAM HMA it ain't over. God could have sent some rain but nope, that's too easy. He pulls out the "big gun" or rather His big Son to join them in the fire. King Neb - 3; Team HMA - 2. Now I don't know all God's thoughts but I bet He was like, "I need to save these fellas cause they didn't turn their backs on Me no matter what. These are My boys!" I mean, even "Ride or Die" Peter, Jesus's best bud, can't claim this. On one hand he says, "Jesus, you are the son of God" and when the fire got too hot, Peter says (3 times, so you know it wasn't slip of the tongue), "Who? I don't know Jesus." So what is the final score? King Neb - 3; HMA - 4 in OT. (1 more point for surviving the fire, and 1 more point for showing the King Neb what is means to serve a real God. Remember no test, no testimony! See Daniel 3:28 - 29:
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way."
So how is it, that Haniniah, Mishael, and Azariah were able to keep cheering, keep the pep rally going when the team looked like they were losing? In fact, they didn't even care if they lost. They were not going to turn their back on the Lord! WOW! Imagine if all of us who attend those spiritual pep rallies, stayed with the game until the end. Imagine showing the world, do what you want...take God off the money, take the prayer, oppress me, kill me if you have to...I will not bow down...I will not turn my back on...I will not leave God! Imagine telling God, bless me if You want to, answer my prayers if You want to, but if You don't...I will not bow down...I will not turn my back...I will not leave YOU!!!
No matter how bad things look or how they are going, don't leave the game, Blog readers! Keep cheering!
