Chaplains on the River

NO…ABSOLUTELY NOT…the phrase in the title is not going to end with the word “S**t”!!!!!

During a church service last Sunday morning, a young boy was participating in the part of the service where the children were sharing from their lessons in Children’s Church.  He was holding up a large card with words printed on it that the audience could read, and he was reading the same words aloud from the back of the card as the children’s ministry leader held a microphone for him.  Pretty heady stuff for a young boy.  He spoke clearly and plainly as he read the words from the card:  “The World Is Full of Good.”  But what he said was “The world is full of God…of good!”  He received applause despite his mistake.

But did he really make a mistake…or from the mouth of a child did we receive an important reminder of a powerful truth?  The world IS full of good - because the world is full of God!  A call and response litany was born in the African American church tradition and has found great popularity in many churches.  It goes like this:  “God is good…all the time!  All the time…God is good!” 

Too often we would finish the phrase in the title with a four letter word, and it would not be “love.”  There is something about negative attitudes and outlooks that are contagious and difficult to expell.  How are you looking at life?  How would you finish the phrase?

Please understand that negativity and bitterness are poisons that only serve to hurt us and those around us, both at work and at home.  What is your life - your world - full of these days?  Jesus said, “I have come that you might have abundant life!” (John 10:10, paraphrase).

The world is full of God!  And God is good…all the time!

Until I see you on the river, may you be blessed and be a blessing!

Chaplain Mike