"For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love"

The first time I heard Maverick City Music’s 2021 song “I thank God” was at a church service.  Here’s a sampling of the lyrics: “And just when I ran out of road, I met a Man I didn’t know, and He told me that I was not alone.  He picked me up, He turned me around, He placed my feet on solid ground.  I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, because He healed my heart, He changed my name; forever free, I’m not the same.  I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God.”  When I initially heard this song, it resonated deep within me.  And, upon hearing this song on the radio again today, it still does.

It was most fitting that I heard “I thank God” today.  Because I do thank God.  Romans 11:36 sums it up well for me: “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.  Amen.”  Today I celebrate – as I do every April – how the Lord spared my life as a baby from a horrible disease.  On that day in April, decades ago, I flat-lined for 3 minutes, but God intervened; He put life and breath back into me, and the disease was gone, never to return!  I have also been privileged to see other miracles in my life as well.  I wish I could go on and on speaking about those episodes, but for today it will have to do to say, without these miraculous occurrences, I would not be here today.

I’m humbled by God’s grace and faithfulness.  Candidly, He has been faithful, even though I have not always been faithful to Him.  I told you back in January that I thought about calling that particular blog “I’m no Superman” from Lazlo Bane’s song, popularized by the theme song from the TV show “Scrubs”.  I want to reiterate that again today: God has not shown up in these miraculous ways because I’m some superhuman figure.  The Lord knows the sin that still so easily ensnares me (as Hebrews 12 puts it).  God chose to mightily show up in my life simply because He chose to do so, and I’m forever grateful.

Let me also go on record of saying that the greatest miracle, by far, that has occurred in my life is the gift of salvation from God; to have my sins forgiven, thanks to the shed blood of Jesus on the cross (Ephesians 1:7) is a gift beyond my words to properly express.  I was just a boy when I put my faith in Christ; and now all these years later, I still consider it the best thing that has ever happened to me.  “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1)!

To conclude for today, as I was praying over this blog today, I was reminded of a song by the group Avalon, a song that I had not thought of for years.  Back in 1997, on their “A maze of grace” CD, was a song called “Testify to love”.  The words of this song contain what I want to do, as long as I draw breath; they sing, “For as long as I shall live, I will testify to love; I’ll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough.  With every breath I take, I will give thanks to God above; for as long as I shall live, I will testify to love.”

God bless,

Kevin