Loss, Dreams and Continuing...

Yesterday we lost a great Christian music legend, icon and trendsetter with the death of Carman Licciardello, known to the Christian world simply as Carman.  I personally believe that he single-handedly expanded and raised the standard and quality of Christian ministry, presentation and entertainment more than just about anyone else in the realm of contemporary Christian music.  While we never had the opportunity to attend one of powerful, action-packed and audio-visual explosive concerts, we owned many of his albums and numerous Videos and DVD’s of his movie and children’s music videos.

When his full-length movie entitled “The Champion” came out in 2001, we immediately ordered a copy with the intention of showing it to our youth group at the church.  I was surprised though, when we were met by a lack of enthusiasm from the youth who all tended to agree that he was “too old” to be relevant to them anymore. 

But I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel as of yet… so I discussed it with my then 21-year-old son who suggested that we approach it from another angle and make it into a fun event.  So, after a period of brainstorming we came up with the idea of having a “I Hate Carman” night where we preceded the movie premier with a free taco dinner, followed by a Carman look-a-like contest and a whole bunch of interactive challenges for the participants to enjoy.

I also wrote a quick script for a video advertisement where our four kids dressed up in extravagant and hilarious costumes and hair-dos and we filmed a supposed interview with Carman (our dark haired, Italian older son dressed as Carman), our oldest daughter as the very 80’s styled, big-hair, sharp tongued cosmetician attending to Carman’s make-up, our younger son as the nerdy TV interviewer and our younger daughter as his goofy assistant.  We then used the video in order to advertise the coming event as well as to build excitement for the night’s activities. 

Needless to say, the planned program turned out to be a big hit and we ended up with many more dressing up to look like Carman than I expected… and the majority of the youth ended up enjoying… and being moved by the movie!  Our heart-felt prayers go out to his wife and family and the thousands of lives that he touched over the many years of his world-wide ministry.

And speaking of other things that we lost yesterday… out here in Oklahoma we finally lost the snowfall!  We got our final frosting of snow last night into this morning and within the last hour, began feasting our eyes on a beautiful blue sky and bright sunlight!  I’m getting ready to dust off my shorts as the temperature has zoomed up to 23º with a potential high of 27º!  Not bad after a low of -18º yesterday morning.  The weather is forecasting continued improvement over the next few days with spring-like weather next week!

This has been a strange week for me for a couple of reasons.  First because I am going stir-crazy not being able to go safely outdoors except for short periods of time in my backyard.  My street and driveway are still covered in snow and I’ve seen a few four-wheel drive vehicles slide around our cul-de-sac.  Which means that I still won’t be going anywhere until the sun does it job and melts the snow! 

And secondly, because I have been having nightly dreams that include the presence of my dearly departed wife.  What’s interesting is that she is not the focal point of these dreams, but merely a normal participant in whatever we are doing in the dream.  In last night’s dream, she and I were packing up our household stuff in preparation for a move and talking to some friends from our former church in California.  The hard part is that I keep awakening while being caught up in the dream… fully expecting her to be… as she always was… smiling at me from her side of the bed!  And then reality catches up, and I realize that it was all a dream and that it’s just me… alone… with the dog in the bedroom.

After I got up early this morning and returned from Fiver’s necessary outside business, I sat on the bed and cried out to the Lord exclaiming “What is going on Lord?”  At times like this it is easy for me to feel a sense of total loss and confusion.  But as with the Carman movie program with the youth many years ago, I wasn’t about to throw in the towel and give in to those feelings.

My initial thought when I reached that decision was that since Piper was continuing on with God’s plan for her in heaven… that I was going to continue doing the only thing I know to do… and that is to “Trust in the Lord completely, and not rely on my own opinions…” (Proverbs 3:5 – TPT)  And right then and there I began speaking out scriptures promises that I have memorized over the years, that talk about all the things that the scriptures declare are mine as part of the death, burial, resurrection, ascension  and then seating at the right hand of God, of Jesus Christ.

I then had the thought of how many times the word “CONTINUE” is used in the New Testament.  A quick check in The Passion Translation lists 76 times the word is used with over 29 directly related to either God or us continuing to perform whatever positive actions are needed to demonstrate our faith and/or grow in our Christian walk.  The majority of the balance have to do with people continuing to not perform negative acts that would hinder or stop our faith and/or Christian growth.

The Apostle’s concluding words in 2 Peter 3:18 seems to perfectly sum up my early morning thoughts when he encouraged us to “continue to grow and increase in God’s grace and intimacy with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

It seems that tough times come and go in our lives on a regular basis, but the best thing that we can do to successfully overcome those times is to CONTINUE being intimate with the Lord by simply seeking, following, speaking and doing the Word of God on a consistent and continual basis in our daily lives!

So, for me, that means pushing past the reoccurring heartbreak, sorrow and occasional confusion and continuing to follow His leading for me in this new day, within this new chapter, in this new season of my life. 

What action does it entail for you?

Have a great day!  Celebrate the Sunshine (or the Son-shine) and keep expecting His best for you today!