Grace Community Christian Church

 

Archived Things Above

Leah (4/30/08)

The pre-event advertising said that Michael W. Smith would be leading the worship, but it turns out he was trumped by an eight-year old girl.

We were on the National Mall in Washington, DC, for the ReignDownUSA event. It was hoped that 250,000 believers would turn out for a time or worship & repentance in our nation's capital. While threatening thunderstorms kept most of that crowd away, the twenty thousand or so of us that were there had a great time. But for me & Kim, it wasn't Michael W. Smith, it was Leah.

She was there with her parents, on a blanket right in front of us, near the gravel pathway on the south side of the mall, under the trees. Michael W. Smith was singing, "Here I Am to Worship", one of my favorite songs, & one that we sing quite often here at GC3. Kim nudged me with her elbow & nodded toward Leah. She was standing, gently swaying, face upward, eyes closed, lips silently moving, hands outstretched, & the most serene, almost angelic, look on her face. It was beautiful to watch, & I felt like I was intruding upon a moment of holiness & divine connection. So I grabbed my camera & started snapping shots.

Leah looks a bit different, somewhat chubby, but not a normal kind of "eats too much" chubby. Maybe chubby isn't even the right word, maybe "puffy" is better. We both had the feeling that she may have some kind of illness, & that this young life was enjoying a relationship with her heavenly Father that made us a bit jealous.

Eventually Leah grabbed a camera & wandered closer to the stage to get some digital pics of her own. Her dad came up on one knee & kept a close eye on her. I knelt beside him & told him what a beautiful daughter he had, & that we had been deeply moved watching her worship. He told me her name was Leah, that she was eight years old, & was a leukemia survivor. And that once, while she was having a spinal tap, she had endured the ordeal by singing worship songs. She loves God & she loves to sing.

She shyly consented to having her picture taken with us, & we left the event moved by the faith of a little girl who had already learned one of life's greatest lessons: The God of the universe is worthy of praise, in the good times, & in the bad. And for that innocent, joyous reminder, Leah, I say, Thank you.



(Check out Leah's website: www.caringbridge.com/va/leah)


Jim Dewar --