John Mark McMillan has become my best friend this summer.  Ok…not really, but I have been enjoying his music and how it fills my soul.  His use of poetic imagery and instrumentation moves me like a beautiful painting.  Needless to say I am thrilled he is a Compassion Artist.

“So Heaven meets Earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest.” This is one of my favorite lines from the song, “How He Loves” by John Mark McMillan.

I love this line because I can see it and feel it.  You know, the sloppy wet kiss.

For me this describes the very essence of our relationship with God.  We are like that snotty nosed kid that comes up to God with the slobbery, drooling kiss and God simply embraces us in all our mess.  Maybe I like this line because I drool when I sleep and occasionally when I am belly laughing.

Lately, Stephen and I have been reminded just how sloppy the world is.  With friends dealing with cancer, and others dealing with death, my heart has been overwhelmed.  I think of my friend Julia, a mom of four, who has bravely dealt with cancer this year.  I think of Amy, a mom of six, who just discovered she has a rare form of eye cancer and potential threat to her health.  I think of Chad who just lost his younger brother tragically.  These are people in our lives who we care for and love.

This sloppiness of the world gets to my heart, especially when I see how these situations affect my friends.  I have been consumed with these stories and compelled to spend time praying.  I don’t always know how to pray in this sloppy place.  Sometimes I plead with God and sometimes I hope that my prayers can influence the outcome, but I have learned this is not always the case.  So I go back to what Hilda said to us in the slums of Kenya, “Just mention my name to him, he knows me. He knows what I need.”

So today I am mentioning a few names and asking you to pray for my friends too.  I invite you to post the names of anyone you want me to pray for and together we can lift these friends up!

Amy and Brian

Julia

Chad and his family

David

To hear this song by John Mark McMillan, you can go to the here.

He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree
Bending beneath
The weight of his wind and mercy
When all of a sudden
I am unaware of these
Afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize how beautiful you are
And how great your afflictions for me