October, 1976, 5 AM, Bailey-Boswell Road, Saginaw/Fort Worth, TX
All I could think of as I headed out for my early morning run was the financial crisis Patricia and I were facing at the International Christian Center/Hotel Rosat, in Switzerland. I knew that it was going to take divine intervention for the need to be met. We had to have the money within the next few days, and I confess to not being “full of faith” that morning.
I recall what happened next as clearly as if it were yesterday. Just before I got to Boswell High School on Bailey Boswell Road, I heard a swoosh and looked up to see a “shooting star” flying across the sky. Then there was another, followed by a third. As I kept looking upward, I suddenly realized that I was covered by a canopy of lights, trillions of them, all created by my heavenly Father; a number that only He knew, and to each He had given a name. “He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4).
I stopped and just stood there gazing up at the wonder of God’s creation. The stars seemed close enough to touch. Then, before I knew it, I was on my knees weeping. I don’t know how long I was like that, but I do know that when I stood to resume my run everything seemed different. Everything! I began shouting and praising God at the top of my lungs that only He and the cows could hear. Then the shouting and praising soon turned into my singing something that would become the refrain to one of our favorite songs: TRY PRAISING THE LORD
Try praising the Lord. Try praising the Lord.
Try praising, try praising, try praising the Lord.
Try thanking the Lord. Try thanking the Lord.
Try praising, try thanking, try praising the Lord.
I sang it over and over and over, and as I did, I found that I was no longer carrying the financial crisis burden. I felt free. I just knew that the God who created all those stars was going to meet our need. And HE DID, just what we needed and just in time. Later that week I wrote the remaining words that Patricia would set to music.
When you find that the valley is lonely and deep,
Or the trails on the mountain keep getting more steep;
In those nights when it is harder to laugh than to weep,
Have you thought about praising the Lord?
When the sandcastles built in the dreams you have dreamed
Start to crumble and fall and all hope seems to end.
When you wish you could turn and start over again,
Why not stop, and try praising the Lord.
What burden are you carrying today? Do you need to look up and try praising the Lord? Remember, “what seems impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
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