Before I begin with this entry of Danny's Diary, let me say thanks to those of you who have written to me, or visited with me at the Singing News table at concerts, about my entry, "Which One Are You?" Many of you commented that the thoughts touched you and many of you ended your thoughts with "I really needed that."
This past Friday, I was at the James D. Vaughan Festival in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. At one point during the evening, a woman stopped at the table and asked if I was Danny Jones. When I told her yes, she began sharing what was going on in life about the time I posted "Which One Are You?"
At the age of 68, she had found herself suddenly widowed. No sickness provided any warning signs and one day as her husband was walking to his car in the driveway, a massive heart attack ended his life. Once the funeral services were conducted and the family and friends had returned to their daily routines, reality set in and she realized that she was facing the future alone.
Since she is a long-time Singing News subscriber, she turned on her computer for the first time last Thursday and logged into the Singing News site. She said that reading "Which One Are You?" gave her the first glimmer of hope she had experienced in the last two weeks.
It's nothing I've done, I assure you, but something that God in His wisdom and His ways.
I've mentioned all of this for one reason: None of us in Southern Gospel music are fully aware of the impact we may have in other lives. In this particular case, when I wrote that entry as I was gearing down from vacation, I had no idea whatsoever that many of you would say "I really needed that" or that widow would feel hope in her soul after spending two weeks in despair.
How does this apply to everyday life? It's very simple as it is exactly what I wrote in the previous paragraph - we just don't comprehend how much our lives are being examined and our roles are being monitored. Because of human fraility, if we did truly comprehend that, we'd most likely get in God's way or royally mess up something.
When Southern Gospel singers perform, they are making a statement. That's fairly obvious. The same goes for all other aspects of Southern Gospel music as each person goes about his or her roles. But it doesn't end there. Statements are being made 24 hours a day, seven days a week...away from the bus...away from the office..away from the home...and more.
As I've been writing this, the old song "Little Is Much (When God Is In It)" has been running through my mind. How true that is. I'm not a good writer and sometimes I truly struggle for ideas and the words to express those ideas. But every now and then, God takes a little thing and lets it grow to huge proportions. That's what all of us need to long for in our Southern Gospel work - take what little things we are capable of, give 'em to God and let Him do His work.
The entire world is watching the Christian people very closely right now - and Christians are always watching Christians. As long as we keep in mind that we can be a vehicle for God's great works, we're going to get through life. Maybe it's a kind word we can say to someone who looks like they've had a bad day, maybe it's a song you write or sing or maybe even something as small as posting something on the Internet...whatever it might be, we can make huge impacts for Him.
You just never know what God's going to choose to use.
