David Ralph

Two things rocked my world this week.  The first was the devestating earthquake in Haiti.  I spent a couple of weeks in Haiti back in 1992.  Some of the pictures reminded me of that trip.  There were a couple of buildings I saw destroyed on the news that I still have picture of – one I am even standing righ in front of it.  I got to touch the hands of the people of Haiti – I played with the children – I looked into their eyes.  It was one of the events God used in my calling to full time ministry.   My heart sank when I saw the pictures on the news.  I felt an emotional tug as I thought about what these people must be going through.

The second thing that rock my world this week was getting the news that a 27 year old father of a two month old baby was told he had cancer and that the outcome was not very promising.  This guy serves on our music team.  He is a really cool guy.  Again, my heart was broken when I got this news.  I thought about him – his wife – his newborn baby.

As I wrote in my journal yesterday and today – there were three things that I kept thinking about  – as a result of this rocking of my world.  The first is the urgency that we need to have as a church to reach people with the life changing message of Jesus.  Life is short at times.  It can end without notice.  Many people leave this world without ever establishing a personal friendship with Jesus.  As a church we need to keep the outreach focus our primary focus – to reach as many people as possible it whatever time we have and they have left.  We need to stop getting distracted by other things.  The second thing is that some of the problems and challenges I have a pretty incidental compared to what people in these two scenarios are facing.  For a couple of days I haven’t prayed for one personal request but have placed all my energy in praying only for the needs of others.  Sometimes we need this shot of perspective to make most of us realize how good we really have it and to stop our whinnng and complaining.  The third thing I was thinking about is prayer.  That prayer sometimes is the only hope that we have to hold onto.  The sad thing is that so often prayer only becomes a priority when our world does get rocked.  I will pray hard for Mikey and for Haiti.

My world has been rocked this week and my heart breaks for the news I got this week.  But some great lessons have been learned.  Lessons I needed reminding of.  Lesson on urgency – perspective – prayer.  God has a unique curriculum to teach us some very valuable life lessons.

Last night I connected with a friend and mentor – a man who changed my life and was part of me finding my way into ministry.  He was recently diagnosed with cancer (I am sick of hearing that word).  I wondered how he was doing so I asked.  He told me that earlier this year he had prayed that this would be a year that he drew him more closely to God than ever – that he would sense the presence of God better – that his prayer life would be fuller.  He said God answered that prayer and that he has never felt closer to God and prayed more than this year – all because of news that must have rocked his world.  I hope I can continue to have that same kind of faith as my world gets rocked more and more.  Rock on!!!

This morning as I arrived in my office at around 6;30 a.m. and opened my journal as I do most days, my thoughts turned to the whole area of worship.  I’m not sure why.  I starting listing a long list of questions about this whole area of worship in my life.  My thoughts were not about the community at Lakeside and worship but more about myself as a worshipper.  I wrote questions like,  1) am I a true worshipper of God – 2) when I am alone with God in solitude each morning is it really a time of worhsip 3)when you are not a real touchy/ feely kind of person how do you worship God with your whole heart and know that you are doing it 4) how important is daily worship of God 5) what are the activities of worship – etc.

Then I asked what I think is the most important question.  The one to be answered before all others – “what is worship?”.  I know I could go online and find a definition.  I know I could find books on my shelf that could help with this question.  But I needed a definition that was my own if it was going to be meaningful.  As I kept looking at the blank page underneath the spot where I wrote this question a thought came to mind about what worship is.  I wrote these words – “worship is when I give God my best and it flows from the awareness that he has given me His very best.”  Then I wrote – ‘worship is about praise and thanks and gratitude to God for all that He has given me.  Out of that praise and thanks and gratititude I give back to God my very best.”

Then I looked through the CD collection I have on my desk and there was a song that just drove this idea home.  It is by Brian Doerkson and is titled “With All My Affection”.  I had listen to this CD but never really heard this song.  The words captivated me.  Listen to them – “With all my affection – all my understanding – Lord I worship you.  With every action – all my spirit’s passion – Lord I worship you.  There is no higher call – than loving you with my life – there is no higher ground than kneeling down before you – Lord I surrender – I worship.

I let that song play over and over again.  While playing it I started to imagine the difference that this attitude of worship could do to every area of my life.  If I gave God my best in my ministry – my family – my time – my money – my leading – my friendships – my work relationships – how much difference could that make?

With those thougths running around in my mind and this song ringing in my head I am off to face another day.  I know that it will make a difference.  I just hope the sounds of the day don’t drown out these sounds.  But I know that if they do – tomorrow morning I can get alone again with God and be reminded of worship.