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Many of you have seen the picture of Roxanne Chalifoux, the crying piccolo player from Villanova. Just after her team had lost a three point game to underdog North Carolina State in the NCAA basketball tourney, the cameras captured her sadness on the jumbo-tron and later on national TV. I was impressed with her passion and loyalty to her school; love sometimes shines brightest in loss. However, I was even more impressed that she played her tiny musical instrument despite the tears. She did not stop or run away; she kept on playing.
Our Christian lives encounter times just like that. The hurts and disappointments can mount and tears can flow. It is then that we have to decide whether we will quit the faith and run to the world for comfort or play on for the glory of the Lord. Beaten, hungry, and chained in a prison cell, Paul and Silas chose to continue their song of praise to God (Acts 16:22-25).
A few nights alter Villanova’s loss, Roxanne appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and was privileged to play her school’s fight song with the Tonight Show band. Judging by the look on her face, it must have been one of the greatest nights of her life.
Christian living is that way too. God can change darkness to light in one momentary sunrise. Drawing on his memory of the Hebrew Scriptures, Paul encouraged the Corinthians, “But just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.”’ The same writer said, “All things work together for those that love the Lord.”
Don Loftis
via Calvert City church of Christ
Calvert City, KY