Last Sunday morning at our church, during our worship service, we had a minor emergency.

A young man who is a walking miracle due to burns he recently suffered was back for the second time since his release from the hospital. Doctors initially told him that he had an 8% chance of living. He suffered the burns due to a gasoline fueled bonfire that went out of control. He was taken by airlife helicopter to Baton Rouge and spent a few weeks in ICU. He is still a bit weak.

The worship music began and the first song felt so powerful and worshipful. Things were rolling. During the second song, I sensed something wasn't right in the room. This young man got weak on his feet and almost passed out. Fortunately, we have several nurses who rushed to his side and were caring for him until an ambulance arrived.

What does one do? We stopped and prayed, and the choir sung on. There did seem to be a sweeter spirit, the music felt more powerful, and one lady joined our church at the service's conclusion. I enjoyed preaching and for a moment thought I might not get to deliver the sermon. I prayed for guidance and God provided. It is not always easy to weigh a person's needs with carrying on worship.

But as one man said, "What is better in a crisis like that than to be praising the Lord?"

At the conclusion of the service, we leaned of the young man's financial needs and our church took a significant love offering to help he and his wife out. Had he not come to church, that need might not have been addressed and there might not have been medical professionals around to help.

God is good.

God is sovereign.

He showed me that Sunday morning...again.

By the way, I found out that another church across the river from us also faced an emergency situation. The church was on fire...wel, just a bit of smoke from a burned out light ballast. But it did empty the building and that pastor did not get to preach. I reminded him that he can "coast" this week and use the sermon this coming Sunday...perhaps...