B E H I N D / T H E / B A R

He would go to the closet and pull out his guitar case that seemed twice as big as me.  He’d lay it down on their bed, pull out his guitar and I would lay beside the empty guitar case pretending that the velvet inside was a race track for my matchbox cars.  She would come in with her little black notebook filled the lyrics of her favorite songs.  He would begin to strum and she would begin to sing, and every once in a while he would join in and sing with her taking the tenor part or the bass, which ever was easiest to sing.  Meanwhile I was racing my cars in his guitar case, listening ever so intently to the music they were making.  Watching my mom and dad, play and sing was always a favorite thing for me to do.

I recently had a recollection of one of the songs they would sing and play together, the chorus says this:

I need you more today than I did yesterday

Mountains are higher

Rivers are wider

I need you more today than I did yesterday

Help me remember

I need you more today.

 

The memory of them singing that song is over thirty years old, but the message of the song has never lost its relevance in my life.

As a husband and a dad of five kids,

pastoring an unconventional church in an unconventional setting,

part owner of a young business in transition,

facing challenges no different than others in similar circumstances,

yet unique to my life.

I need Him more today, than I did yesterday.

We’ve been walking through thru the Sermon on the Mount at Saturday Church since the beginning of the year.  About four weeks ago we stepped into the study of the Lord’s Prayer.  I’ve prayed this prayer a gagillion times. Seen it displayed on walls, greeting cards, and even tattoos.  But in my recent study of this prayer, I realize that Jesus is teaching me as much about how I should live my life in this prayer, as he is teaching me how to pray.

Among the many life lessons one can find in the Lord’s prayer, the one that has resonated with me the most, is the fact that I need God’s intervention in my life daily.  I need to talk to Him, I need to hear from Him.  I need His wisdom, His guidance, His comfort, His correction, I need Him. . .  and now as a new day begins, even more than I did yesterday.

If that’s true for me, its true for you.  Because really, although our circumstances may be different, we are all human in desperate need of Him.

I challenge you to a little exercise I’ve been doing more conscientiously over the last several days.  Tell Him.  Tell God you need Him today, even more than yesterday.  Even if that’s the only prayer you pray.  Tell Him you need Him.  Watch and see if He doesn’t show up in the strangest places, and yet the sweetest ways in your life today.   I’ve seen this happening in my life, and believe you will to.

P.S. thanks mom & dad if you’re reading this for teaching me these little lessons with your guitar and your little black song book.