After nearly 40 years, I still know the steadfast love of God
By Dean Collins
For 24 minutes at about 20 minutes into the hour, whoever was watching CNN Headline news at that moment heard about the steadfast love of the Lord.
In the early 80s American artist Andy Warhol once said, “In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.” That was long before YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and all the other social media platforms that have made Warhol’s 15-minutes-of-fame quote seem almost prophetic. It was the mid-1980s when I had my 24 minutes of fame though my name was never mentioned.
The invitation
I was working as a campus minister in a ministry I had founded at Auburn University when I received an invitation to speak at the Monday-morning devotional at Chick-fil-A’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta. Even though I was in my mid-20s and had often spoken to teens and college students, being invited to a corporate headquarters to talk to business people in suits made me a little nervous. And yes, this was the era of white shirts, coats, and ties in the workplace. I would be out of my element for sure!
I prayed about my devotional and began to prepare. I think I was told to take 15-18 minutes. On the Thursday morning before I was scheduled to speak, I received a phone call at my office. (This was also before cell phones!) The call came from the administrative assistant of Chick-fil-A president Jimmy Collins. I believe the invitation to speak came from Jimmy, but in a recent conversation, neither of us could remember. Jimmy’s assistant said that the PR director of Chick-fil-A wanted to speak with me and transferred the call.
The surprise
A very professional and kind man named Don Perry introduced himself and told me they were excited to have me as a guest speaker. He then said, “I do want you to be aware that CNN Headline News will be there for the devotional and will have a film crew.” He explained that they were doing a story on Truett Cathy and his integration of faith in the workplace. Mr. Perry went on to say that I didn’t need to change anything I planned to do or say; he just wanted me to be aware of the extra attention and size of the gathering on the day I was speaking.
Needless to say, I was now officially anxious! So I chose to do what I had always done when working with teenagers and college students. I brought my guitar and would teach the group a couple of Scripture songs. It would calm me down, I decided, and reduce my speaking time to about 10 minutes.
The experience
When I arrived, I was greeted at the door by a couple of executives and ushered to the room that was already full, including a couple of cameramen operating very large television cameras. One guy had his camera on a tripod at the back, and the other guy was literally kneeling about four or six feet from me while he filmed everything I said. It was a very uncomfortable 20 minutes. I can remember my text from James 1 and one illustration that I used in my talk.
I ended up teaching one Scripture song and then leading them in one well-known hymn. The song I taught them was about the steadfast love of the Lord never ceasing from Lamentations 3:21-23.
Steadfast love
I thought about that experience because this morning I read a portion of Psalm 89 that uses a couple of the very same words: “I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.”
Since I was 14 I have sung songs about the faithfulness of God. His love and his mercy are new every day. I rarely sing in public these days, but most every day the songs and psalms of my youth flood my memory, and I sing of God’s faithfulness. Nearly 40 years ago as the news commentator told the story of Truett Cathy’s faith, at 20 minutes after the hour you could hear me strumming and singing about the steadfast love of the Lord.
Frankly, I don’t know how many people heard it. I don’t know if it helped anyone who did hear it. What I do know is that singing it over and over for some 40 years continues to increase my confidence in God’s love and in his faithfulness.
I have never been famous and have no aspirations to be famous. But what I hope you and I can do the rest of our lives is offer our work and even our songs up to the Lord so that he will be known far and wide.
Lord, your love is new every morning. Thank you for your faithfulness to us. Today we offer our songs and our lives to you. Use us today to show someone else that they can depend on you. May our words and actions bring glory to you so that more and more people will know you and receive the gift of life that comes only through your Son, Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.
Your time with God’s Word
Psalm 89:1-2, 8-9, 11-13; Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV
Photo by Keagan Henman on Unsplash
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