Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Monday September 29, 2008

Years ago I sold vacuum cleaners and during this brief period of my then young life a story made the rounds about Chippie, the parakeet.

A certain lady owned Chippie and had recently bought one of our vacuums. The lady decided that Chippie's cage needed a good cleaning, so putting the new vacuum cleaner to work she was cleaning Chippie’s cage when the telephone rang. She turned to answer the phone and in a nano second it was goodbye to Chippie. The poor creature was sucked into the cleaner. Our Lady of The New Cleaner, opened the vacuum, tore open the filter bag, and there, still alive, but with eyes the size of the cartoon canary, Tweetie, was Chippie, was stunned, but was taken by the now frantic lady to the bathroom where she placed him in the tub and ran rushing cold water over him. She then realized that her cure was worse than the disease, so she took out the blow drier and blasted Chippie until he was dry. The old story ended with the line,

"Chippie doesn't sing much anymore."

People are a lot like Chippie. Life seems to buffet them on every hand, sickness, financial difficulty, a bad marriage, or any of the traumatic events which can ride into our life, swiftly out of nowhere.

The sum total of courageous living has to do with getting over past storms, living through current ones and continuing on in the knowledge that more storms will come. God enters this panorama of life in the storm, walks on the waters of the storms as it were, and we learn that He is there. Walking with the Lord teaches us to trust in the darkest hour, somehow singing though the tears that scald our cheeks.

Mosie Lister's grand song, "Til The Storm Passes By" inculcates the hope of people throughout history that the storm will pass and that there is a better day coming when there will no longer be the raging storms of this life.

When Israel was carried away to Babylon there was much despair, but one of the Psalms, 137, tells of their sitting by a strange river, weeping as they remembered Zion, they like Chippie, hung their harps and left off their singing while the Babylonians mocked them, and Israel lamented, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" Thankfully they learned to sing again of the coming golden days.

In all probability as you read this article, you are going through some storm. I don't know the exact nature of the current storm in your life, but I do agree with Job who said long ago, in Job 5:7 "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward."

Chippie's experiences may have taken his song. You do not have to give up your inner song due to troubles, according to Job, troubles are inevitable, but then, so is God! And we are told in Job 35:10 "But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;" the instant problem being that people focus on the trouble rather than God who gives songs in the darkest night of our life.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2008 Use with credit.

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