West Cocoa Chat

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Steven was anticipating with “fret-ed” breath, the arrival of his new guitar, the coveted Schecter C-1 Classic. He had tracked it to Orlando early yesterday morning and anticipated it’s arrival before his Praise Band practice that night. When it didn’t arrive just after dinner, he began to worry. No, “worry” may be too harsh a word. How about “exclaim with righteous indignation?” J

A couple of phone calls to UPS and the company we bought the guitar from brought about the realization that for some reason, the address UPS had on their delivery form was “North Friday Circle.” Trouble is, we live on “South Friday Circle.” Fortunately this guitar crisis of “cat-a-stevens” proportion occurred as I was leaving the ball field from announcing my 3rd straight game of the week.

With Barbara working her magic from home, a massive dosage of Tylenol for Steven, and my proximity to the UPS Center in Rockledge, we began to have hope that all would not be lost. I arrived at the UPS Center and found 2 very helpful ladies. One of them had been on phone with Barb and get this; the other one had a son who has “the sickness!” Yes, she knew the pain and horror our family was going through with the prospect of being so close and yet so far to a Schecter C-1 Classic! You might say she was a “C-1 Angel.”

After a couple of searches, she returned with Steven’s guitar. I wanted to have “church” right there in the Customer Center! My mind began to wonder – how would I serve Communion, who would do the “opening prayer,” and where is that dad-gum song board to post our songs? I was brought back to reality with this sweet lady saying, “Sir, sir, is there anything else I can do for you?” I said, “No,” and bid her farewell.

I met Steven at Church. As we un-boxed his guitar I was reminded of how Howard Carter must have felt when he discovered King Tut’s Tomb. Steven carefully cradled this "new member of his guitar family" and said, "Baby, you were a hard birth." Steven hooked up his guitar and began to play. One of our church’s favorite songs is, “You Never Let Go” by the group, “Passion.” He played, we sang, and as I so often do when our church is worshiping, I thought about our journey.

We could not see where we are at now. What we could see was fear, retaliation, and as the Richland Hills Church is discovering, an attempt at isolation. But how many times do we read in Scripture of flawed, seriously flawed humans, being chosen by God to do something eternal? To almost a person, nearly each one of them doesn’t think they are up for the task and at times, tries to tell God He’s made a mistake. God has the vision and we need only to trust.

Steven playing a praise song on his guitar in our church with both of us singing – it’s a vision I won’t soon forget.