He Lives

Here is another guest blog which my son Micah wrote a while back. He is attending Hillsong College and living large in Australia.  Wish I had done something like that when I was 19.  Anyway, I wanted to share it with you guys, it's a really good one.

Micah on our family cruise ~ 2011

So today I got the opportunity to join a songwriting group here at college. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was when I heard about it.  The past week, or maybe even past two weeks, almost every thought of mine has revolved around the idea of writing worship songs.  I even messed around with a couple of ideas because I just couldn’t stop thinking about songwriting.  I don’t know if this will ever be something I will do a lot of or not, but I’m going to give it a try. Basically I’ll be writing a new song every two weeks and bringing it to the group, and we will all look at each other’s songs and stuff. It’s awesome. I was asking God for some direction a couple of days ago concerning this issue, and I guess this is what He’s given me.

What I really am writing about tonight though is not the songwriting group, even though it’s such a good opportunity for me.  For our first meeting today the leaders of this group told us that our first song write was going to be an Easter feel.  Like Jesus is risen kind of stuff (not like the Easter Bunny or egg hunts). I was super excited because I have never really written anything along those lines before. I was crazy eager to write, so when I got home from school I got right on it.  I sat down and came up with a few little things that I thought sounded okay, but they weren’t great so I stopped messing with it.  

As I went inside from the garage (our music room), I began to think about that fact that Jesus is alive.  Alive in spirit, person, alive in us and really there are so many aspects to that fact that He is alive. It is an absolute reality that our God is alive and not dead.  For some reason as I was thinking about this and talking with a God a little bit about it, I started to think about losing loved ones.  In my life the past few years I’ve seen a few deaths that have not been easy.  My little brother, my pastor and more recently one of my uncles.  

Of course other people have passed in this time also.  I hate death.  Even after the amount of loss that I’ve had to deal with in my life, I still don’t know how to deal with it.  Complete separation from someone you love is so hard.  I would never wish the pain of losing a loved one on anyone, I don’t care who they are.  It’s terrible. 

Why would this be on my mind when I’m talking to God about how He is alive?  Why would I be reminded of the loss of life when I am deliberately thinking about God’s life?  I was really perplexed at my own thoughts.  I actually became sad.  I thought about my brother.  I really miss him and I hate that he is gone.  I have had such a hard time coping with this loss.  I thought about my pastor and how much I hate everything about the fact that he has passed on.  I thought about my uncle and how saddened I am by losing him.  

There are things in my life that need healing from these losses and they’re taking forever.  God has done some awesome things in my life but I have really been in heartache over these losses. I think tonight though I finally came to a point where I actually gave God some room to move in this area.  I think tonight I finally allowed God to show me things about this.  Really, it was like He did it without me even knowing it.  I was going about my night just doing random things like doing the dishes and I think I played some guitar.  Nothing really spiritual honestly.  

But suddenly as I was just going about my night, something clicked.  God is alive. He is alive.  There are people in my life that have died and left this earth, but God is alive.  Even though I have lost  family, God is alive.  Even though I’ve lost friends, God is alive.  I can put my trust in God and know wholeheartedly that, In EVERY season of my life the one that I love the most (Jesus) will never die, but is always alive and strong!  I can know that even though my life has, at times, been filled with uncertainty, God is ALWAYS there.  He is alive! 

It’s such a fresh and renewing revelation.  It’s something I’ve always known and believed but for some reason it’s so real to me tonight.  I’m still saddened by the loss of my brother, my pastor and my uncle; but tonight I have been moved to a different level of recovery from it. I think that there are stages people go through after losing somebody. I believe God is walking with me through each step and each day gets better and better and knowing that He is alive has helped to see so much clearer.  I have more joy because I know that my God is alive and right now my brother, my pastor and my uncle are more alive than they’ve ever been.  They’re all three with God in His matchless presence living it up.  

God is so good and He is so alive.  He’s with me as I’m typing this.  He’s with you as you’re reading this.  Know that even though things in your life may be dying and falling apart, there is a God who you can hold onto who will never change.  He is our complete security and we know that every morning we wake up that He is there to be our tower, anchor, provider, stronghold and really He is everything that you and I would ever need and so much more than that even.  Know that God loves you and He is alive in you and wants to use you for great things! He is always there for you whenever you need it!  

I’m sorry this was so long, and it was pretty emotional.  I just felt like somebody might need to read this! Hope God has showed you what He showed me tonight!