We gathered around TVs, eyes glued there, thumbs on tablets and cells, watching and tweeting our way through. We couldn’t believe what our eyes did see: Whitney Houston was gone. We knew it to be true, though. The casket was there. The choir was there and so were “more stars than the Grammys,” said the pastor of Newark’s New Hope Baptist Church. This was Houston’s hometown church, the place where mother Cissy wanted to celebrate Houston’s life now in her death, a place familiar to Whitney, a comfortable place, fitting to send her to her ultimate home.

We gathered around TVs, tweeting the incredible, sounding off the unusual, after voice after voice talked about the Lord. Some actually said His name, Jesus, and we couldn’t believe that He was sent forth. Across the airwaves, throughout the nations folks heard about His goodness; they heard about His grace. I imagine they were hungry, on the edge of their seats wanting to know how to get this Jesus: Do I read the Bible? Do I go to church? Do I just say I love Him? Their eyes were glued, probably they knew that someone would tell them how to get them Jesus and be with Him even in death. But this they do not know, at least not from the Houston screen, the worldwide platform where the famous and familiar didn’t have to pay to say what I expected them to say: Jesus Christ, who is God, who Whitney claimed to be her God, died on the cross for the sins of mankind, but rose again after three days, defeating death and the grave. If those who say they sin and believe they need a perfect savior to help them sin less call on Jesus, that perfect Savior, to take away their sins, because they believe in their hearts that Jesus made that sacrifice, that He paid the price for their redemption, then they too will defeat death. They will have the power to live for Jesus in life and be with Him in heaven after death.

But they didn’t say this. They said the familiar, the comfortable, the unpeculiar. They blended in, went for the shout, never clarifying the doubt that surely thousands had. What God is love? How can I prioritize God? This made me sad. This made me mad that the Savior I know (and off the Houston screen the one they say they know) couldn’t hear them say that Jesus is Lord and that He said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” But their denial reminded me of what I must do on my arrivals: Wherever I go, whomever I meet I must speak the name of Jesus whenever the opportunity comes. I am thankful for a heart check, seeing if my blood freely flows Jesus and not just human red. There is power in the name of Jesus. In Him we live and move and have our being. Without Him we are nothing. Without Him, we get nothing.

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 10:33).

Don’t be denied.

My One Thousand Gifts List
#451-460
Getting two complimentary CDs
Connecting with an old classmate
Intimate talk with a new friend
Watching a movie with Flynn
Getting ready for church and not being stressed without having help with the boys
Being able to hear the main parts of the sermon even with the noise of the cry room
Flynn having me pick up carryout so I wouldn’t have to cook dinner
The incredible sound of thunder and the beautiful brightness of lightening
Enjoying episode two of Wives and Daughters
A shower BEFORE the boys woke up