Day 28: Blessed be the Name of the Lord

As I write I am sitting in a beautiful hotel room in Denver. Cindy and I are spending Saturday and Sunday night in the lap of luxury as a reward for my month and her week of tenting (she was at the family gathering in Estes Park before joining me).

We pulled ourselves away from these surroundings to attend the Celebration Rally at a local school's football field. It was hot! The sun was blazing! We used the liturgies to shield ourselves from the sun's relentless rays. After the call to worship, Cindy said, "I don't know if I'm going to make it through the whole thing." I wondered, "How can anybody worship in this heat?"

Then the band launched into "Blessed Be Your Name," and I struggled to choke back the tears. Then I just let them flow. If you've been reading my blog regularly you're probably thinking, "Jim sure cries a lot." On this tour, I do. I consider that one of this event's great graces.

That song is my son Michael's song-the one he has on his facebook page-the one he chose as he dealt with a very complicated and dangerous growth on his back, one that ultimately required surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore. Here's some of the words:

"Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful,
Where your streams of abundance flow, blessed be your name.
Blessed be your name, when I'm found in the desert place,
Though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be your name."

Blessed be your name when the sun's shining down on me,
When the world's all as it should be, blessed be your name.
Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering, blessed be your name.

Refrain:
"Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say,
'Blessed be the name of the Lord...

"The desert place"-that would be where I have been when multiple sclerosis attacks-where Cindy was when she had a bone marrow transplant that threatened her life as much as the cancer-where my son David was when he developed the same cancer as his mother-and where Michael was when they said he had a mysterious growth on his back that required the services of the best neurosurgeon we could find.

"The land that is plentiful"-that would be where I am as I bike through Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Colorado-where Cindy is as she thrives as a wife, mother, teacher, and friend-where David is in his new marriage to Julia and in his work for Young Life-and where Michael is as he considers seminary and prepares for another promising soccer season.

As I bike I remember the desert places and marvel at the present land that is so plentiful. And with each pedal stroke my nerves and muscles and bones, and occasionally my lips, cry out, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." And with my tears, my eyes join the chorus.