I'll be all right someday ...

I'm not complaining. I've got no one to blame. No reason to criticize or condemn.

But I dogged it today ... big time. My last tweet says it all: I was trailing behind the Spirit all day long, and I hate trying to play catch up to the Wind. Today, I got left in the dust.

How did I get so far behind? In this case, I've got to give full credit to my manic personality. It was a week of self-imposed lunacy. I took on an extra event before the radio show last Sunday night. I loaded up a couple extra events at a high school this week. I bought a ton of new gear AND installed it in my rig. I downloaded a dozen new songs and threw a couple on this morning's set list. I scheduled a church study night at the beginning of the week and a church repair day at the end of the week (and launched both events this week). All this on top of a regular schedule that looks overly ambitious at the best of times.

So, it's no surprise that I dragged my sorry self to service this morning, and served leftovers. Not a re-written sermon -- it was me, not the message, that was warmed-over today. The people at church are like family to me, and families put up with leftovers every once in a while, but they deserve better.

It's always struck me as odd that God mandated a day of rest in the Big Ten. The Sabbath is a quaint idea, but it seems kind of superfluous -- kind of like the long weekend holidays the government keeps adding to the calendar. Nice, but hardly necessary. This morning's misadventures reminded me that the Sabbath is a necessity, not a nicety. It's not only a day of rest, but also a day to recognize that incessant busyness is an insidious form of idolatry. Restlessness stems from the misbelief that our efforts and achievements are the primary cause of our success. At rest, we realize that much of life is not dependent on our "heroic" overtures.

Big surprise: we are not God. More specifically: I am not God.

Somehow, I lost sight of that this week.



In my regret and remorse, I take comfort in the words of a song that came to me this weekend in the best possible way: randomly and unexpectedly. When I launched my iTunes application yesterday, my Last.fm app launched with it and served up a Reverend Gary Davis tune I'd never heard before last night. The song is called, I'll Be All Right (check out the excerpt), from the Reverend's 1961 disc, A Little More Faith.


I’ll be all right; I’ll be all right
I’ll be all right someday
Yes in my heart I do believe
I’ll be all right someday

If Jesus Christ I want to find
Pray tell me where he is
It is him alone can ease my mind
And give my conscience ease

What signal shall I tell him by
From any other man?
He wears salvation on his brow
And in his arm a lamb

I thank you friends for your advice
I’ll find him if I can
And if I do, I will rejoice
Oh, Christ is friend to man

I’m going home, I am going home
I’m going home someday
And in my heart I do believe
I’m going home someday



Words of hope from one rock and roll preacher to another.