When a chart-topping country
music singer took the stage during a recent award show, a sense of warmth and
closeness to this person rose in me. So strange, because I had never met him nor was I what most consider a country music fan. I pay attention to the
music because my son loves it, and because I enjoy music in almost every genre.
So why did I feel this way?
Partly because of a story Jerry
tells about when he was a kid.
A woman in his neighborhood had
horses and in exchange for mucking out stalls and other jobs, she allowed Jerry
to be around the horses. One day, while going into a stall, a horse pushed past the gate and got away from him. The horse took off with Jerry in pursuit, but of
course he was only in junior high and couldn’t keep up. While
chasing it, he tripped and fell on his knees. Jerry tells this story as one of
the first times he remembers praying. “Oh, Lord, please help me to catch that
horse.” He got up and continued after the horse and wondered as he made several decisions as to which way to go whether the horse had made those same choices.
Finally, he spotted the horse who had found companionship with a few other equines
on another neighbor’s property. Jerry struggled with getting the bridle on him,
because the horse stretched his head high. But the kindly property owner
spotted him and came out to help him bridle the horse.
That man
was this singer’s great-grandfather.
The other
part of this story is when my first book came out, a friend arranged for one of
my book signings to be in Jerry’s hometown. The lovely owner of the shop was so
gracious to me, and I’ll never forget her as the signing was a wonderful
success.
That woman
was the star’s grandmother.
And so,
whenever I see the country artist, I think of the touching kindness of two of
his relatives that has meant so much to Jerry and me.
These
relationships make me think of the six degrees of separation defined as “the
idea that all people are six or fewer social connections away from each other.”
I don’t know if it’s true or not, but what I do know is the most important
relationship we can have involves no degrees of separation if we have given our
lives to him.
You don’t have
to phone a friend or call anyone’s grandmother, like I would if I wanted to contact
the singer.
The apostle
Paul wrote in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time
of need.” The King James says “Come boldly . . . “
Because of
what Jesus has done on our behalf, the way is clear for us to call out to the
Lord directly.
During a
ministry weekend in prison, I was at the piano during a service when a wall
phone beside me rang. We all laughed, and our worship team launched into that
old gospel song, “Jesus on the main line, tell him what you want.” The chorus includes “Call him up, call him up,
tell him what you want . . . “
We’re as
close to God as we want to be. The King of the universe is awaiting our call. We don't have to work our way through an automated message system or
get put on hold.
Remember—no
degrees of separation.
And whether we’re a country music fan or not, that’s something to really sing about.
Beverly Varnado is the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. A memoir, Faith in the Fashion District, from Crosslink Publishing is available wherever books are sold. Also consider her other books, Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees and Home to Currahee. She also has an Etsy Shop, Beverly Varnado Art.
To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.com
Beverly Varnado copyright 2021