Nine months ago I had a total of two worship songs on my iPod. If you have been following me, you probably remember a previous blog I wrote before I even came on the race called “No pain, no gain.” This blog shows a little bit of how God had been convicting me about my music selection. I now see that God was preparing my heart for an amazing transformation.
It is now month nine of The World Race, and I don’t have a single song on my iPod that isn’t Christian or worship music. I love me some praise and worship!! I love worshiping in community. I love worshiping alone. I just love worshiping, period! I gotta have it, even if that means putting in my headphones at 12 in the morning and finding a place to get my worship on.
One night this month I was getting worship fever. I’m talking about getting on my knees, hands up type of worship. It was about 11pm and we were camping. The only place I could go to not disturb sleepy racers was in this dark corner of the compound where we were staying. This corner really didn’t seem safe. I couldn’t see what was back there but I just knew it was the home of snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies that I had seen around the compound.
After assessing the situation and realizing that I really didn’t have any other option, I decided to just get over the environment and focus on the heart of worship. Standing in the darkness I closed my eyes and started to sing. No distractions, no worries, no problems. It wasn’t long before I felt a great peace. I opened my eyes, looking straight up at the beautiful mass of stars in the clear sky. I took a deep breath in and smiled. How beautiful, how immense! My eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness. I looked around to see trees to my left, and surrounding my feet were tall weeds, some as high as my knees.
As I exhaled, I started to see light flicker in the midst of all the darkness. Fireflies were all around me. The song on my iPod was blaring, “He is the light shining in the darkness…. He is the light for all the world to see.” I’m pretty sure if my heart could smile it had the biggest grin at that moment. This dark place that I was scared of and almost chose not to worship in, turned into the most beautiful moment on the race for me. The feeling was overwhelming; I fell to my knees in worship. The weeds, the spiders, and the snakes were of no worry to me anymore. I was focused on one thing: my father, my creator, my daddy.
Like this dark corner there are some dark places in this world full of evil. These places may seem scary from the outside but when we know our creator and are in tune with our identity, darkness is no longer an issue. Our job is not to avoid these places but to take the light we carry and shine bright in them!
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all [who are] in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16
Are you covering your lamp with a basket? You have a light welling up inside of you. Don’t cover it. Instead put it in a place where everyone can benefit from it.
