LET EVERYTHING…PRAISE THE LORD!

A few evenings ago, I went to visit my parents at their home on the golf course, when my dad stepped behind the couch to step on a bug. He immediately notified us that he had just been stung through his sock by a scorpion. My dad is a healthy 81-year-old, but when I grabbed a jar to capture the bug and saw that it truly was a scorpion, I was concerned. He immediately took off his sock to reveal the injured toe; we put alcohol on it, and then took him to a nearby urgent care where we were quickly informed that the venom wasn’t poisonous and wouldn’t harm my dad unless he was allergic. We were very relieved.
Back at their home, I was ready to smash the demon creature, but my dad had other plans. He kept the small scorpion for a few days, fed it a bug and enjoyed watching the battle in the jar, and then he said something I couldn’t believe. “I’ve decided I’m going to pardon the scorpion and let it go.” What???


I had to laugh, because that’s just the way my dad is. When I was growing up, he’d tell me his life motto was: “Whenever I meet up with someone, I never want to leave them worse off than were when they met up with me. I want to leave them better off or unchanged.” He didn’t only speak that motto, he’s lived it.

So back to the scorpion…my dad said it wasn’t the scorpion’s fault that it stung him, because it was only trying to protect itself while my dad was trying to step on it, and he wanted to let it go. This morning, he was excited to tell me that he went out golfing early and took the scorpion in the jar to release it into the woods. He found a big tree with bark peeling off the trunk and opened the jar to let the critter crawl out onto the bark. My dad was so excited to tell me that as soon as the scorpion realized it was free it immediately stretched out completely and raised its pinchers to the sky as if saying, "Thank you God, I’m free!"

As I sit here in my office, sipping my coffee and talking to God about this, I’m quickly reminded of the scripture that says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” Psalm 150:6

I recall the joy of leading worship throughout the years in churches, schools, conference centers and hotels and watching the faces of men, women, teenagers and children as they worshiped God with raised hands and voices. I can still picture the tears running down the faces of some as they were touched by God and were so thankful for His love and presence. I can feel my emotions rising up as I think about my own incredible encounters with God during worship services that left me undone because of the love of Christ I experienced and that sense of thankfulness for His forgiveness.

My dad received great joy watching that creature react to its new found freedom, and I have always received incredible joy watching people react to their freedom in Christ as they worship God!

Every one of us becomes a worship leader when we show someone the way to freedom in Christ and how to give thanks for that freedom.

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)