Special Weekend Edition - and Dedication
Hello Great Ones,
I’m Nate the Great! - and this is another GreatOne Production.
This is normally posted on Fridays, but today’s edition of Greater Words, Greater You! is a special weekend edition and dedication, called “Strength that stays.”
This is dedicated to someone who was very special to many people; including me.
He was a brother in the church, a family friend and a simply awesome human being.
To respect his family and give them their privacy, I’ll simply call him “Brother B.”
This week we’ve focused on Strength - not the kind that’s just loud, but the kind that “hangs around.”
You know, the kind that stays and actually does something.
Today, I want to talk about the strength that maintains you, supports you and helps you endure whatever life throws at you.
Strength doesn’t carry a megaphone.
It’s simply your loyal follower and consistent supporter.
Strength is the quiet decision to keep on believing when fear keeps on telling you to stop.
The Great Story
In 1999, my Dad, may he rest in peace, was preaching a series of sermons based on the scripture verse, John 14:18 (KJV) “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
One night, after listening to one of those sermons, I went home and wrote a song called “Give the Lord the Praise,” which I eventually taught the Brotherhood choir.
There’s a part of the song that goes like this:
“He’ll never leave me comfortless. He will come to me. When I need him by my side that’s where he’ll always be. I can’t lose this game of life if I let him call the plays. That’s why I give the Lord, that’s why I give the Lord, that’s why I give the Lord the praise.”
Years later, Brother B., who sang one of the solo parts in the song, fell into a coma and nearly died.
In fact, doctors expected him to die.
Members of our church prayed for him and his family, went to visit him, etc.
Then one day, Brother B., who was by the way, one of my brother’s best friends, woke up singing my song!
It was incredible!
Even more incredible is the fact that he was singing the part of the song that I just mentioned above: “He’ll never leave me comfortless. He will come to me…”
I was told that although he couldn’t quite sing the whole song, he got that part down cold, along with the part that says, “That’s why I give the Lord the praise.”
So basically, he remembered “He’ll never leave me comfortless. He will come to me.” and “That’s why I give the Lord the praise.”
Combine the two and you have “He’ll never leave me comfortless. He will come to me. That’s why I give the Lord the praise.”
Brother B. would later say that his faith in God and those words gave him the strength to keep living.
I wrote that song in 1999. I don’t remember the exact year Brother B. went into a coma; but I believe it was in the early 2000’s.
I dedicate this great story to him because I was told just this past Wednesday, that he passed away at the age of 84 - more than 20 years after coming out of that coma.
In the Bible, Proverbs 18:21 (KJV) says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
Whether in the biblical sense, the natural sense or any other sense you may want to consider, words do matter, words are powerful and words can and often do, cause individuals, groups and even nations, to live - or cease to exist.
If you doubt it, just take a look at the world around you and see for yourself.
You just never know when the words YOU use may inspire someone, anyone, maybe even yourself, to live - and maybe even live a better, greater, life.
Once again, I dedicate this issue of Greater Words, Greater You! to Brother B.
Rest in peace, my brother. Rest in peace.