EVEN IF

Tim sat at the piano, trying to finish a song that he had in his mind to write but couldn't finish it. Parts of the lyrics came from a hymnal he held onto, with the song “ It is well with my soul”. Bart, lead singer/songwriter for the Christian band Mercy Me, asked him what he was doing. He too held onto a book, only his book was filled dates, times, dosages. Tim gave the dvd to Bart, believing he was the one to finish the song…only Bart didn’t listen to it…at least not then. Tim, the opener for “ Mercy Me”, shared the story of the background of the song “ It is well with my soul”. It’s the story of a man, married with four daughters, who had lost his fortunes during the Chicago fires, and his son earlier before. He sent his wife and children on a European trip ahead of him, only to have all his children killed in a tragic boat accident. With his wife still alive, he went to see her, and as he came to the place where his children had died, he wrote this song “ It is well with my soul”. Tim sang to the crowd his partially written song. Later on, Tim collapsed and laid in a hospital bed, near death due to a rare and advance cancer. Once again, he asked Bart if he had listened to his dvd. Bart shook his head. You see, Bart was consumed with another book, a book that had robbed his thoughts, his hope, his joy. It was the book that recorded his son Sam’s diabetes schedule. Bart had held onto the belief, that he had to control Sam and his diabetes or else he would die. That night Bart went back and listened to the dvd. And then he heard it, felt it, cried for it, and wrote the song “ Even If”. ….” I know you’re able and I know you can save through the fire with your mighty hand…but EVEN IF you don’t my HOPE is in YOU alone…It is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul”. What about you? Which book are you holding onto? Is it the book that brings peace in the midst of uncertainty or the book that you try and control the circumstances…the circumstances you can’t control? Tim knew that his peace was because he trusted Jesus, the one who controlled his destiny, the one who loved him the most. That night Bart gave up his book, and gave it to Jesus. Like the biblical characters who had also had the choice to serve a false god or serve the TRUE God, they chose God and were thrown into the fiery pit.and lived. Where are you now? Will you trust God with your circumstances , as uncertain as it is? Tim Timmons, diagnosed with a rare and advance cancer lived…twenty years later with four of his own children..Sam continues to live with his diabetes and is now a musician..just like his dad Bart. And Bart? Well, he picked up the other book, and now lives with HOPE, singing “ Even if….it is well with my soul”. I pray for those of you who need a miracle today that you too will find your hope in Jesus…the only true God, the only one who loves you….even if….