Thursday night I made a point to watch "Larry King Live." I don't normally watch Larry King's program, but I saw that the Steven Curtis Chapman family were being interviewed by Larry King. I wanted to see what they would say. I wondered what questions Larry King would ask them. Of course, the interview centered on the death May 21, 2008 of their youngest daughter Maria Sue.
Maria Sue was playing outside that day in May. She wanted to "do the monkey bars." She just wasn't tall enough to reach them. When she saw her beloved brother Will driving down the drive, she ran toward him. She knew he would lift her up high enough to reach the monkey bars. Will didn't see her coming. All he knew was that the SUV hit something. And in a moment's time Maria Sue was lifted far higher than the monkey bars. She went straight into Jesus' arms.
What captivated me during the King interview was the honest, calm faith the Chapman family demonstrated. God showed up in Larry King's studio for all the world to see. Larry King honestly stated that he just didn't understand their faith, but he clearly saw the power of God's restoring grace in the five Chapmans he interviewed.
Apparently Will told Larry King as they left the set that he was going to pray for him to really "get it." Larry King doesn't understand (by his own admission) how God can be enough for such an incredibly tough time. But he also saw in living color a powerful demonstration of God's work to bring peace and purpose even in the most severe pain and loss!
The world is clammoring for real faith! Only real hearts restored by God's love and grace can demonstrate real faith to a world dying and lost - to hearts desperately in need of restoration. Actually that's exactly why there's A Restoration Church forming in the South Hills of Pittsburgh - to demonstrate God's power to restore broken hearts and lives! It's a compelling message! It's the heart of the Gospel!
Steven Curtis Chapman (SCC) has written many wonderful songs. One of them is titled "Yours." Since Maria Sue went to heaven, SCC has added another verse to "Yours":
I've walked the valley of death's shadow
So deep and dark that I could barely breathe
I've had to let go of more than I could bear
And questioned everythng that I believe
But still even here in this great darkness
A comfort and hope come breaking through
All I can say in life or death
God we belong to you.
In the lyrics of "Yours" SCC writes of streets in London, Uganda, Singapore, Manila and Shanghai and how it all belongs to God "from the stars in the sky to the depths of the ocean floor ... it's all yours, God"!
I started thinking about the streets of Pittsburgh. Without permission I want to "tweak" SCC's lyrics:
"I walk the streets of [Pittsburgh] and notice in the faces passing by
something that makes me stop and listen
My heart grows heavy with the cry: Where is the hope for [Pittsburgh] ?
You whisper and my heart begins to soar as I'm reminded every street in [Pittsburgh] is Yours ...
And I hear children's voices singing of a God who heals and rescues and restores
And I'm reminded that every child in [Steeler Town] is Yours ...
It's all Yours, God - all our dreams are Yours
It's all Yours, God - all our plans are Yours, God ...
It's all Yours, God - everything is Yours!"
And because it all belongs to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords then we can pray and work and live as A Restoration Church confident that He Who began this good work will finish what He has started! (Philippians 1:6)
Showing posts with label Steven Curtis Chapman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steven Curtis Chapman. Show all posts
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Stephen Curtis Chapman and His Cinderella Gone
My heart hurts for Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman and their children - Emily, Will, Caleb, Shaoey and Stevey Joy. Their daughter and sister Maria went to live in heaven yesterday, and their hearts are raw and bleeding!
About a year ago I discovered the wonderful book Steven Curtis Chapman wrote with his friend Scotty Smith, Restoring Broken Things. I read it with my heart and was blessed more than I can say by their honesty and real faith to believe that restoration is possible for all of us who are broken (and that includes all of creation and all people everywhere)! My own brokenness drives me to Jesus and their book helps me along that path!
The scary thing about writing a book or a blog or teaching a Bible class or preaching a sermon or writing Christian songs is that sometimes God pushes us and stretches us beyond what we know by circumstances of life. God challenges us to do more than write or say truth - to really, really live truth even in the most broken times!
I'm sure the Chapman family is reeling from the same challenge today. God is calling them to really, really live truth in this most broken time! Yesterday one of the Chapman teenage sons accidently drove their SUV over his little sister Maria. Her broken body gave up its fight and she went to heaven to be with Jesus forever. That's great for Maria, but it's pretty crappy for a lot of other people who loved her who are still stuck "in restoration mode"!
Another reason my heart hurts for the Chapman family is that I came very close to living what they are living today. In September 1978 I ran over my six-year-old son. It was an accident, too. In my case God chose to leave David with us. His body, too, was broken from the Chevy Caprice that literally stopped on top of him. God was so, so good to protect our David so that this (the story of my running over him) is only one story in a long line of "adventures" he has lived and lived through! God could have chosen another ending to our story like He did for Maria yesterday.
The truth is that in both cases God is good and still the King! It's the only truth we can live in and make sense out of all the brokenness that surrounds us in this very broken world filled with very broken people!
On the cover of Restoring Broken Things, there is a picture of a broken pot and the words of Jesus: "Behold, I make ALL THINGS NEW." (Rev. 21:5) For Maria Chapman that's exactly what she is experiencing today. She is brand-spanking new in heaven with Jesus! That's pretty awesome! She is no longer broken in any way!
But for her family there is a huge hole in their hearts. I doubt Steven Curtis Chapman dreamed when he wrote the song, "Cinderella," how prophetic the lyrics would prove to be:
So I will dance with Cinderella while she is here in my arms ...
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella. I don't want to miss even one song.
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight and she'll be gone ...
And she'll be gone. She will be gone!
BUT the best news of all and the ONLY hope for the Chapman family and for all of us who are living in the midst of brokenness is that Jesus is in the business of restoration - some of it happens now and all of restoration happens someday! It's His promise to His children, and we can count on it! He promises to restore broken things forever! AND HE WILL! And, for Christians, death doesn't separate - it just delays the grand reunion someday! And that's also God's sure promise for all who love His Son Jesus!
About a year ago I discovered the wonderful book Steven Curtis Chapman wrote with his friend Scotty Smith, Restoring Broken Things. I read it with my heart and was blessed more than I can say by their honesty and real faith to believe that restoration is possible for all of us who are broken (and that includes all of creation and all people everywhere)! My own brokenness drives me to Jesus and their book helps me along that path!
The scary thing about writing a book or a blog or teaching a Bible class or preaching a sermon or writing Christian songs is that sometimes God pushes us and stretches us beyond what we know by circumstances of life. God challenges us to do more than write or say truth - to really, really live truth even in the most broken times!
I'm sure the Chapman family is reeling from the same challenge today. God is calling them to really, really live truth in this most broken time! Yesterday one of the Chapman teenage sons accidently drove their SUV over his little sister Maria. Her broken body gave up its fight and she went to heaven to be with Jesus forever. That's great for Maria, but it's pretty crappy for a lot of other people who loved her who are still stuck "in restoration mode"!
Another reason my heart hurts for the Chapman family is that I came very close to living what they are living today. In September 1978 I ran over my six-year-old son. It was an accident, too. In my case God chose to leave David with us. His body, too, was broken from the Chevy Caprice that literally stopped on top of him. God was so, so good to protect our David so that this (the story of my running over him) is only one story in a long line of "adventures" he has lived and lived through! God could have chosen another ending to our story like He did for Maria yesterday.
The truth is that in both cases God is good and still the King! It's the only truth we can live in and make sense out of all the brokenness that surrounds us in this very broken world filled with very broken people!
On the cover of Restoring Broken Things, there is a picture of a broken pot and the words of Jesus: "Behold, I make ALL THINGS NEW." (Rev. 21:5) For Maria Chapman that's exactly what she is experiencing today. She is brand-spanking new in heaven with Jesus! That's pretty awesome! She is no longer broken in any way!
But for her family there is a huge hole in their hearts. I doubt Steven Curtis Chapman dreamed when he wrote the song, "Cinderella," how prophetic the lyrics would prove to be:
So I will dance with Cinderella while she is here in my arms ...
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella. I don't want to miss even one song.
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight and she'll be gone ...
And she'll be gone. She will be gone!
BUT the best news of all and the ONLY hope for the Chapman family and for all of us who are living in the midst of brokenness is that Jesus is in the business of restoration - some of it happens now and all of restoration happens someday! It's His promise to His children, and we can count on it! He promises to restore broken things forever! AND HE WILL! And, for Christians, death doesn't separate - it just delays the grand reunion someday! And that's also God's sure promise for all who love His Son Jesus!
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