On July 26th at 11:30am, I decided to go for a walk. A thunderstorm had rolled by and it was raining. I have walked in the rain a lot in my life. That’s basically what it means to be in the Infantry, right? Cue Forest Gump rain scene in Vietnam. LOL So, I went for a walk in the rain wondering why I would choose to do this. But it was a discipline, so I should do it for my own good, rain or shine. The day before this, God had given me a verse to contemplate on my walks. (I wrote about that here: How to Connect with God)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.Colossians 3:16
Singing hymns really helped me connect with God. But on this particular day, I didn’t feel like singing. I was bitter. I said, “I will just walk with my thoughts.” Moments later, at 11:38am, my cousin messaged me on messenger. My phone beeped. I ignored it. I figured it was a silly video. It beeped again. I looked at the message preview but it didn’t seem important so I put my phone back in my pocket and said, “leave me alone, this is my alone time with God.” But my phone kept beeping… I thought, “my cousin never messages me this many times. This is very out of the ordinary.” I opened the message.
He had sent me a hymn. ? My cousin has literally never done that before. The timing was undeniable. I fell on my face on the side of the county road in the ugly crab grass that only gets cut twice a year. I wept uncontrollably and repented in dust and ashes… because I had just seen God. I told my cousin I love him. I thanked him for being God’s messenger. Once again, the song pointed me back to Jesus. The day before, God had GIVEN me the recipe for how to connect with him, by singing praise and hymns and spiritual songs… and I did… and it was amazing… but one day later I had already caved into my flesh and didn’t “feel” like singing hymns. But God in his great mercy and kindness still wanted to connect with me and sent me this song.