God Of Wonders

And God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth

God Of Wonders - Third Day 

When I was younger, I had the incredible privilege of being the drummer in a praise band. I was young and had never been in any band before. I had played with my older brother at home but never with a band. All the other guys in our praise band had much more experience than I did, but I loved every second. I can remember one of the highlights from those years was when we got to play in our church sanctuary on Christmas Eve. It was a candlelight service, and we played a song called King Of Glory. My friend Greg played the saxophone on that song, and I have always enjoyed playing it. I remember being so nervous as the sanctuary filled up with people. The Christmas Eve service always packed our church, so it was a large crowd. When it came time for us to play, it was like God knew that I was nervous, and he took my hands and feet and played the song for me. I did not miss a beat. I will never forget that night.

I sometimes do this thing where I remember minimal amounts of a song in my head, and then it drives me crazy until I figure out what song it is. I had one of those moments the other day, and I've been trying to figure out the song ever since. 

The book Colossians reminds me of the importance of our relationship with Jesus Christ and that Christ is the "image of the invisible God."

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him, all things hold together.

Colossians 1:15-17 CSB

I work as a sales manager for Aflac. I was training a new girl riding in the car a few weeks ago. She was not technically on my team, but I had an opportunity to go with her to one of her appointments. We were heading to Longview, about one hour from where I live. As we were in the car, I felt compelled to ask her about her faith. Asking someone I do not know very well about their faith is something that I have yet to do before. The Holy Spirit spoke to me in the car that day and told me I needed to use that time to discuss faith with her.

I asked her if she identified as being a Christian.  

She told me that she had grown up Catholic but was now agnostic. Then she added that The Bible was a book of fairytales put in place to give us rules to live by and that people need to have a feel-good story to not live with the fear of dying. 

I was shocked and ill-prepared to have this type of response. I immediately felt like God was challenging me. I knew that I had to be careful with my reply. I have never known where the line is regarding work and religion, but we are all called to profess our faith at every opportunity. There is no line anywhere when it comes to spreading our faith. 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8 CS

My initial response was another question. I asked, "OK, well, where do you think we and everything around us come from?" Then she began telling me about her Big Bang Theory, not the fun television show but the theory that all creation came from it. 

That ended our faith conversation that day, but I was already gearing up for round two. That evening, I called my pastor, and we talked about this girl and my conversation with her. He and I were fired up, and he gave me some great questions to follow up with her. 

Unfortunately, she quit before I had that opportunity. 

Last Sunday, our pastor talked about what it means to take up our crosses and follow Christ. I could close my eyes and hear his impactful words in my head. I could hear him clapping his hands together as he asked, "If you know what it means to take up your cross, then why aren't you doing it?" 

I don't know if I am taking up my cross correctly, but I know He is always on my mind when I pray for God to help me face the lions. Facing the lions for me means that I always want to profess my faith and be put in uncomfortable situations. I always want to glorify God and do whatever I can to lead others to know Him.  

In my D-Group bible study group this past Thursday, I had one of those moments I spoke about at the beginning of this blog post. We were talking about God's Tabernacle and reading through Exodus. I told them I remembered playing a song in my praise band about the Tabernacle. One of the guys in my group started singing a song about the Tabernacle, and it wasn't the one that I was thinking. I joked and told them that it would come to me around 3 AM because I couldn't stand not remembering songs or other things. 

This morning, I woke up and had this song in my head.

The song is called God Of Wonders.

Then I realized this was the song I was trying to remember from Thursday.

I know that my thoughts are a little all over this place today, but here's my main point and conclusion:

There is one God. He made you, and he made me. He created the universe. He calls every star out by name and knows the exact number of hairs on our heads. God loves us and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins so that we, through Jesus, can have a relationship with Him. 

God of wonders indeed! 

Wow, what an amazing God we have!