Bless the Lord O My Soul
When Nick awoke on Sunday morning, he couldn’t recall how he’d gotten home. He looked in the garage, but his car wasn’t there, so he popped the garage door open to check the driveway. “There it is,” he said, feeling a sense of relief. “Man, I’m lucky to be alive.” His Mustang was half parked on the lawn and half parked in the driveway, offering him a glimpse of his condition the night before. A few feet away from it sat an old faded Toyota Camry.
“Must be the maid’s car.”
He went back upstairs and showered, humming Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel.” After finishing and toweling off, he put on a pair of khaki pants and sat down on a chair in his room to reflect on the day before.
“Where’d I go wrong?” He said aloud, “Next time, I’ll bring fewer beers and tons of water. And sodas. We needed sodas yesterday. And sandwiches. Did I even eat last night? That would’ve helped for sure. What a loser.” He was mad at himself for letting the liquor get control of him.
He recalled a little girl crossing the street in front of his car with others. Could have hit her. Could have killed her. But instead he skidded by her.
“Thank God.”
Pulling himself up, he made his way to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. The mirror was fogged up, so he wiped it with his hands in a circular motion. His reflection showed his bloodshot eyes and razor stubble.
Grabbing his razor, he attempted to shave, but his hands were shaking and his eyes felt fuzzy and unable to focus. And they itched. But he couldn’t give up. Half-way done. “Keep going. Concentrate.”
“Okay, good,” he said. Shaving took longer than usual with three unexpected nicks, but his face was now free of stubble.
“Eye drops, where are the eye drops?” He moved bottles around in his medicine cabinet, shoving them back and forth.
“Perfect,” he said as he pulled out a bottle and squirted a few drops into his eyes. “Now I just need something for the pounding.” He grabbed an aspirin bottle from the cabinet and popped the cap open, somehow losing control of it. The bottle was now on the floor and aspirin tablets were scattered all around it.
“Oh, come on!” He knelt down and picked up the aspirin tablets and placed them on the countertop, catching a whiff of his breath. “Ugh.” He got up while gulping two aspirin without water and reached for his toothbrush.
“Hopefully they won’t smell the alcohol,” he mumbled as he brushed his teeth for the second time and swished some mouthwash. The alcohol was still in his system.
***
A short while later, he walked into the church and sat himself in a seat in the back, hoping to be as inconspicuous as possible. Still smelled.
The service opened to much singing, loud singing. The choir belted out the songs and the audience sang along. People were clapping and swaying to the music. They seemed happy, truly happy. Nick felt happy too; something about the songs made him smile. They were uplifting and in praise of God. Two of the songs were from Matt Redman, “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord),” and Chris Tomlin, “How Great is Our God.”
When the songs ended, the pastor stepped onto the stage. He quoted Psalm 103 (ESV) as he announced, “Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, Bless His holy name!” He shared a story.
“There’s a story in the Bible about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31, which I’d like to share with you in today’s context. Living in Florida, I’m sure you’ve had the opportunity to witness the lifestyles of both the rich and the poor. Well imagine this. Imagine that you grew up in a modest home across the street from a family with two sons in a middle-class neighborhood. Things were tight, but their parents worked hard to make ends meet. Both sons went off to college and became successful.”
“Twenty years after they’d graduated, they were both living in lavish multi-million dollar homes. Their parents were still living in the same house, which was falling apart, yet the sons paid no attention to that, or any of their parents’ needs. Both sons were too busy attending to their own needs. And they needed the services of a lawn man, a pool company, and a maid.”
“Five more years went by and the first son’s lawn man’s wife was diagnosed with cancer. The cancer bills started piling up and they were forced to move out of their small home and into an apartment, which they rented. His wife died. He was devastated and struggled to come to grips with his wife’s passing.”
“His work suffered and he lost several major lawn accounts. He could no longer pay his bills and had little food. Soon his landlord kicked him out.”
“Feeling he had no other choice, he went to the son he’d worked for in the lavish home and knocked on the door. Wanted to know if he could borrow some money. The son told him he needed to work harder and to take care of himself. ‘God helps those who help themselves,’ he said, smugly. Plus, he’d noticed too many weeds on the side of his house.”
“Soon both the son and the lawn man died. The son found himself in hell perched over a raging fire, while the lawn man was carried to Abraham by angels. The son saw the lawn man standing next to Abraham and asked him to send him some water, because hell was blazing hot. Abraham reminded him of all of the good things he’d had in life and of all of the bad things the lawn man had had. Now the son was in agony, while the lawn man was in Heaven and a great chasm was between the two that couldn’t be crossed.”
“The son begged for pity, asking that the lawn man be sent to warn his brother. Abraham declined, telling him if he didn’t listen to Moses and the prophets while on earth, he wouldn’t believe in someone being raised from the dead.”
Nick thought of his mom and her position in her company over thousands of workers and cringed.
“Wonder if anyone ever asked her for a loan. Wonder if she helped the entry level minimum-wage workers who were likely struggling to make ends meet.”
He recalled the homeless man from the restaurant, whom she’d shunned. Who else? She needed to be warned, but would she listen?