“Shine, Jesus, Shine”
Be careful when you tell God you are unwilling to do something. When you are a worship leader, there are certain Christian songs that you are expected to know, songs that never wear out their welcome or become dated, songs like “Amazing Grace” and “Shout To The Lord”. There are other songs, however, that wear out their welcome pretty quickly, and other songs that you just never want to sing again. Ever.
On the plane trip to Japan, several of us joked about being asked to sing some of these “golden oldie” worship songs. Someone jokingly suggested that we sing “Shine, Jesus, Shine”, that grand anthem of praise that graced many churches in, I think, the eighties. I quickly shot back that “Shine, Jesus, Shine” would be just about the last song ever strummed on my black Takamine guitar, fully intending that, if asked, I would rock a full-on ABBA medley before I ever played that song again. Besides, I don’t even remember it!
Jump forward three days with me. Pastor Ryo Itoh of the EV Free church in Nagoya has just asked me to play “Shine, Jesus Shine” for the fifth time, clearly oblivious to my plain discomfort, and to the fact that I do not even remember the song! No. Shine. Jesus. Shine. I don’t know it anymore, since it has been nearly five years since I played it.
Since the song was becoming a running joke with the Japan mission team, I thought it would be funny if I actually did try to play it. After all, there is no way I will be able to have it ready to play in a service! Try to imagine my horror when I picked up my guitar to play, and had the song figured out again within about two minutes. Pastor Ryo, also in the room, looked like an offensive tackle as he broke through the crowd to get to me. He was delighted, and I had to just laugh. Apparently God’s sense of humor is intact in Nagoya, Japan.
Many people in the Bible brought their excuses to God. Moses was no public speaker (Exodus 3), David was the least, and Simon Peter was a sinful man (Luke 5). I don’t ever really want to play “Shine, Jesus Shine” again, but I do want to obey God, whatever he asks me to do.
“Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory….Send forth Your Word, Lord, and let there be light.”
July 10, 2009 at 9:14 pm |
Isn’t it cool how God so totally has this great sense of humor?? Too funny – and I didn’t even know Josh played the guitar!
July 11, 2009 at 5:49 pm |
Josh doesn’t play the guitar. It was Jeff. Where are they in Japan? No Where on the web page does it say where they are. My nephew is a missionary and he read the stuff. but he also wants to know where they are. What town? What church?
July 12, 2009 at 1:22 pm |
We are in Nagoya, Ｊａｐａｎ．Ｌｏｖｅ ｙａ Ｍｏｍ。
July 12, 2009 at 8:35 pm |
Hey, great blog guys. We’re praying for you.
Totally coincidental, but really not…we sang Shine, Jesus Shine for worship this morning!
What can I say? God loves that song…:)
God goes before us… Have a blessed trip and see you all back in Cali!
Eddie
July 13, 2009 at 2:00 am |
We sang “Shine, Jesus, Shine” at church today, and I thought about y’all with a huge smile on my face! The Lord never ceases to amaze me with His sense of humor!