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Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.
Today is September 11th. Eight years ago I remember standing in the fitness room of the YMCA watching the TV as the horrible events of that Tuesday morning unfolded. Ever since I was born I have had an invisible MP3 player playing in my head. I cannot remember a time in my life when there wasn't a song going in my head. I wake several times a night and, without fail, a song is playing. Usually it's an really upbeat song. I can't get it to stop and I can't fall back asleep until I manually change the song on the IPOD of my mind to something more soothing.
As I watched the TV that morning I remember that suddenly the music had stopped. It was a feeling I cannot explain. It was sort of like the dream where you are in your underwear in public. I felt suddenly naked. I had absolutely no song in my head. Even when I tried to manually start a song, no song came to mind. I remember going to the church that afternoon. I was supposed to lead worship the next Sunday so I went to the church to seek the face of God and direction for the service. This day was different. I sat at the piano and nothing happened. Usually sitting at the piano would start an intensely intimate time of personal worship. Usually I would start by playing the song that was in my head at the moment. But nothing happened. I had no song. I fell on my face before God and wept. I asked God, is this what this is about? Is this the beginning where you finally write "Ichabod" across this nation and the world. There was silence. No voice from God and no song. All I could do was weep and cry out to God. "How can I lead these people in worship on Sunday? What could I possibly bring to a congregation experiencing insurmountable hurt and fear?"
I sat at the piano again and placed my hands on the keys and began to tap out the tune, "This is no time for fear, this is time for faith and determination.....God is in control". I have to admit that I had never been a fan of that song. I was never even a Twila Paris fan. We didn't flow in the same circles and I thought the song was mismatched and choppy. I couldn't relate to the words or the music. Until that Tuesday afternoon.
Sunday morning came and instead of the usual upbeat song to open the service, I began by telling this story to the congregation. I began to softly play and sing the words, "This is no time for fear, this is a time for faith and determination...". I looked out, which I very seldom do, and there were tears, there were hugs. People slowly began to come to the altar and pray. God had brought us comfort in a time when the world and our nation was in total Chaos. He had shown us the "But with God" from this verse.
This writing today is for my family. Tomorrow marks seven months that we have been part of the statistic of unemployment. It's scary times for us and our nation. This week has been especially trying. We have faced drama at church, uncertainty in our finances and it seems that everywhere we turn there is another obstacle that has to be hurdled. The questions have come from you guys, "Why is everything so hard?". "Is there any area of our life that isn't a struggle?". I sat you each down on February 13th and told you that this would be a time when God would show Himself mighty, all we have to do is be faithful and trust Him. Trusting has been hard this week. There has been lots of talk about getting a bus and following our dream of traveling the country and leading worship. That is, after all, what we each feel called and created to do. I don't know if I'll wake one morning and a bus with "The Cooke's" will be parked in front of the house. I woke up this morning half way expecting a bus to parked outside and Ty Pennington steps out with a megaphone and says, "Good morning Cooke family. This is the day your dreams come true. God has heard your cries. Climb on and let's go!!! Bus driver, move that bus!!!" Of course that didn't happen. But with God everything is impossible.
Someone said something yesterday that struck me. They said, "God is doing something phenomenal, I can't wait to see what it is". Things look dark. I, myself, have questioned if I should just walk away. Surely your lives could not possibly be any worse. I was reading my devotion today and realized that I had not stopped yesterday to read a devotion. This was the verse from yesterday. The phrase, "But with God...". But with God, there is no such thing as impossible. But with God, there is no such thing as hopeless. But with God, there is no such thing as a has-been. But with God, there is no age requirement or limit. BUT WITH GOD......

Blessings
Allen