The Air I Breathe

Psalm 150:6
"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD."

Do you ever think about breathing? Probably not much, if at all. When you over-exert and are short-of-breath, maybe. If you're underwater trying to get to the surface, probably. But most of the time, we just breathe. But when you think about it, without breath, our lives would be short. Without breath nothing can live. If something has breath, it has life.

Today is the first Sunday Tammy and I went to worship without David Lee in the country in almost two years. It certainly was different. He's been gone before, but this time it's fairly permanent. But we were there to worship God with all our breath, and that's what we did.

Now, don't think for a minute that we don't miss David tremendously. He has been a huge blessing to us for nearly 27 years, and during Tammy's illness and recovery he was right with us. But we're really doing okay. Many people came up to us and with a frown on their faces (expecting a sad answer) asked if we were okay. We said "Yes. We know he's doing what God wants him to do."

I've been thinking about posting something ever since he left on Tuesday. The thought running through my mind was the song by Delirious? called "My Glorious." The chorus says, "God is bigger than the air I breathe, The world we'll leave. God will save the day and all will say My glorious!"

The first time we were faced with one of our kids planning a long-term stint in the missions field, I was concerned. Julie called us from Poland, where she was completing a six-week internship. She told us that she was thinking of serving for a year. I kept thinking, "Is this what God wants? Is this what I want?" Following a long phone call with Julie, we headed to church (a little late). As we walked in, the worship band was playing this song and had just reached the chorus as we walked through the door. It confirmed to me that it was what God wanted, and therefore should be what I wanted. I came to grips fairly quickly that missions was going to be a part of our family's lives from that point on.

Here's a link to the video of that song.

But wait, there's more. A good friend of ours came up to us after church and gave us a gift. We have grown close to her during the summer, and she understands what a special young man David Lee is. In the basket was a plaque that says, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." There was also a book in the basket. The title? "The Air I Breathe." It's a devotional book about worship. It certainly was confirmation to us that God is in control of this situation and David Lee is in good Hands as he serves in Poland.

We ask that you pray for him to be effective as he serves. And pray that we can constantly remember that God is bigger than anything we encounter, and that He has David in His Hands.

By the way, if you want to read more about what David is doing, check out his web site. He's very transparent in his blog, and he does a great job of letting you know what's going on. Here's the link: http://www.davidlsmale.com/