Of Psalms and Sailing and Sickness

Last week John and I got to go parasailing and it was, well, just amazing.  As we soared 25 stories above the water

I said, “John I want to write a psalm!” 

I know.  Weird.  I’ve never said that before.  But that’s how I felt!

So I wrote a psalm when we landed.

David definitely does not need to worry about the competition!

Ordinary words just couldn’t capture my feelings.  The glory of God and the thrill of this new experience…being held up by the breeze and God’s hand…

Now this week we’ve been sailing and snorkeling around the BVI’s and I’ve been thinking about David again.

I’m an outdoors person.  Nature is my spiritual pathway so it doesn’t take much to get me excited, but I mean REALLY!!  God was having a great day when He worked on this part of the world. 

We lay on the bow of the boat at night looking up at the dark sky lit by a zillion stars.

Stars are like Easter for me.  Try as hard as I can I still can’t fully comprehend either.  How can anyone take in such magnificence?!

Isaiah tried when he wrote, “Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars.  Behold the one who leads forth their host by number. He calls them all by name.  Because of the strength of His might and the glory of His power not one of them is missing.”

David tried too when he wrote that “The Lord wraps Himself in light as with a garment and stretches out the heavens like a tent.”

This is great when you’re out sailing and the weather is perfect, but then today I got word that my friend, my faithful friend who loves Jesus and has suffered so much, had to go back into the hospital for the millionth time.

 

And then I say, “Lord, you hung the stars!  You could heal Heather with one hand tied behind your back!  Why not?!”

And I want to write another psalm.  A psalm of complaint and questions. Begging for mercy and strength and healing for my friend. 

David, who looked up at these very same stars thousands of years ago, did that too.  “How long O Lord, how long?” he wrote.

I’m in good company I guess.

Do you feel like writing a psalm of praise or complaint today?  Maybe both.