Amazing Love

It was one of those surreal moments. Or maybe even proud might be just as adequate a description if used in an indebted kind of way. At the last moment, I asked a friend to take my place at the piano for the evening worship Sunday night and I slipped out to The Warehouse, a new contemporary service at Crossroads UMC. The music was loud, due to my placing myself in front of the speaker, but in only a moment, I was able to enter into a worship experience that touched some deep places in me. I can cry like a baby when it comes to singing Amazing Love. “Amazing Love, how can it be that You, my King, would die for me?”

But after we finished singing came the real reason for my being there. My firstborn was bringing the message at this gathering. The reality of it hit me, and if I cried while singing, I blubbered like a fool when he walked up the steps onto the stage. (I’m so glad the lights were low so he couldn’t see me! He would have been so embarrassed.) But at that moment, I recognized the powerful authority that was on my son to bring the Word, and I was just overcome with gratitude to a God who is so faithful, not because of me or any parenting skills, but in spite of me and my lack thereof. What an amazing love.

It was indeed a very special and holy moment – and nowhere close to ordinary.