O how great is our God and greatly to be praised! (Psalm 48:1-2)
Sunday past was a wonderful day in the Lord and brother Daryl Peavy brought forth a wonderful message of encouragement and promised blessing through obedience.
We all went home with our hearts full of the blessings of the Lord.
The day passed into evening without incident and my wife and I settled into bed and fell asleep.
Around midnight the phone rang.
This is not unusual for a pastor's life so while we knew it was a problem we were not too alarmed until the frantic voice on the other end of the line screamed "My house is on fire!, my house is on fire!".
real alarm set in for us when we recognized the voice as that of our newly wed youngest daughter, Kristen.
We threw our clothes on and rushed to her side to discover that her home had been completely destroyed and the loss was total.
Kristen and her husband Justin had suffered devastating loss.
You might say, 'how can you begin your post with praise in a situation like this?' The answer is an easy one.
My daughter had been in deep sleep when the fire erupted and she was alone because her husband had been called into work that evening and was over eighty miles away.
So why praise?
In the Messianic Psalm 91:11 the psalmist wrote, "For He shall give His angels charge over thee..."
The prophet Daniel wrote in Daniel 6:22 "My God hath sent His angel and hath shut the lions mouths, that they have not hurt me...."
In Acts 27:23 the apostle Paul says, "For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve."
I think to my self how often we are unaware of God's watchful care over us.
Kristens dogs, who she lost to the fire, kept insistently licking her face and whining over her until she had no choice but to wake up and see what was wrong. That act is what saved her life, and ours, because we would have been devastated had we lost our daughter or our new son.
So, it's easy for me to give God praise.
As you read this try to be aware that there are many, many times and occasions where God has watched over you and you were unaware. The appropriate response is praise.
Our community, the Red Cross, Sheriff's Department, Fire Department and many others have been quick to offer aid and support. Even in this we see the hand of God and we give praise.
Our children are broken, and they need your prayers, but they recognize the hand of God as well, and they give praise.