Late afternoon last Thursday, I journeyed to the Tabernacle for a new tux fitting. All of the men of the choir had been asked to sign up for a time to get this accomplished, with nearly a dozen time slots spanning multiple days and weeks to choose from. Imagine my surprise then, when on the way to the fitting I saw one of my good choir friends just leaving--who I said hello to and chatted a bit with. Then, once I got into the Tabernacle, another two of my very good friends were there. After our fitting, we all stood outside catching up and giving each other encouragement and letting each other know how grateful we were for each other--especially during these times when we couldn't meet and sing together.
I mention this because it was a testimony to me that God is aware of our needs and will provide us with tender mercies when we most need them. The odds of me meeting up with three of my best choir friends given the number of time slots available over the past few weeks were definitely not in my favor. But God doesn't care about odds and is certainly no subscriber to the word "chance" or "coincidence". He is a Master Planner and the Giver of Good Gifts and on this Thursday afternoon, around 4:45p, He gave a good gift to me and some of my friends so that we could be strengthened and encouraged by our combined friendship.
On a related note, my family and I attended a Pitt Family reunion this past week up at Bear Lake (northern Utah, southern Idaho). And speaking of odds, it "just so happened" that the three days we were there were three of the coldest days on record for this time of year. A little discouraged, we all gathered that first night in a cold cabin with sweatshirts on and a desire to start a fire in the fireplace. But the next day, even though it was in the 50s, everyone was able to tune out the temperature and make the best of the situation by engaging in various activities both on the lake and by the cabin. As my dad and I went to get some gasoline for the wave runners, he said "Ryan, we've experienced a tender mercy today. Jordan had originally reserved a different cabin that wasn't right next to the lake. But because he switched and got the one we have now, we've been able to better cope with the cold weather--playing outside, yet being able to conveniently come into the cabin at times to get warm. It just wouldn't have worked out so well if we had gone to the beach today."
I realized he was right. And I realized that I actually hadn't recognized the tender mercy that was right in front of me. I was too focused on what we didn't have: warm weather.
I hope we can all be aware of and be thankful for God's tender mercies--whether they are the kind that are handed to us on a platter, or whether they are the kind that take a little bit of recognizing to unwrap and discover.
Before ending today, I just wanted to promote the upcoming Tabernacle Choir concert which will air on Saturday, July 18th, at 7PM. This concert is a celebration of the past 90 years of Music & the Spoken Word, and will feature songs from past performances and guest artists that have joined the choir on stage in years past (see more info HERE). You might be tempted to think that this concert was put together directly because of COVID-19 and the choir's inability to deliver a live performance. However, in this case, the July 18th concert was actually meant to be the way it is (past performances) because the choir would have just been getting back from their 2020 tour and wouldn't have had time to prepare a live concert this year. At any rate, it should be a fun event to watch/listen to, so you're officially invited to be a remote audience member and be uplifted by the music that will be presented.
Until next time, God be with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment