M
and I are travelling through the States on our way to a conference.
As we're driving we're listening to some of our older CDs. We just
heard the song Bring It On
by Steve Camp. As I listened to the words, I began to wonder if Steve
would have written them knowing what he and his family would face
years later.
Here is the chorus:
Bring it on
Let the lightning
flash, let the thunder roll,
let the storm winds
blow
Bring it on
Let the trouble come,
let the hard rain fall, let it make me strong
Bring it on
For those of you who
don't know just a few years ago the Chapman family lost one of their
children in a car accident. She was only 5 years old.
Sometimes
I think, LORD,
I'm willing to go through whatever you want me to go through. BUT
don't take my family through hard times. Don't let my children
suffer. Don't let them know hard times. Let my husband, M, not
struggle. Let their path be of peace and no pain. This is what I
want, but I realize this is not what is good.
Christ
has said, “If
anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow Me.”
It's very interesting to me that when He said this to His disciples,
He had not yet been crucified. What must they have thought? To follow
Christ, they had to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow
Him. They were familiar with crucifixion. The Romans had seen to
that. I don't think we'll ever know the extent of the severity of the
pain, suffering and humiliation that went on as a person died on a
cross. Our age has nothing to compare with it.
Yet to this is what
Christ called them and us. “Deny self and take up your cross.” We
can never know the full extent of what the cross entails until we
take it up ourselves. My cross will differ from yours in that my
strength, my weaknesses are different from yours. Yet Christ does not
leave us alone to carry it by ourselves.
He has also said, “My
yoke is easy and My burden is light.” He never meant for us to
carry it by ourselves. He wants us to rely upon His strength. The
whole point is to acknowledge that I can't carry it. Only He can walk
me through it.
What
Steve and his family went through, he would never wish on anyone. Yet
they have come through it. Two portions of the song Bring
It On
are:
'Cause I know I've got
an enemy waiting
Who wants to bring me
pain
But what he never
seems to remember
What he means for evil
God works for good
So I will not retreat
or surrender
Now, I don't want to
sound like some hero
'Cause it's God alone
that my hope is in
But I'm not gonna run
from the very things
That would drive me
closer to Him
So bring it on
THE
VERY THINGS THAT WOULD DRIVE ME CLOSER TO HIM...
Do we realize that? The
cross that we carry drives me closer to Him. It literally chases me
into His arms where I can cry and learn of His peace, and receive the rest and
contentment that only He can give in those times.
LORD,
I can't do it on my own, but whatever You've got planned, bring it
on.
