Yes, Lord!

Do you ever feel like a song is following you around? When I served as a chaplain at our diocese's summer camp, I learned Darrell Evans' song "Trading My Sorrows." It starts out:

"I'm trading my sorrow, I'm trading my shame, I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord.
I'm trading my sickness, I'm trading my pain, I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord."

And then comes the chorus, which like any good camp song is shouted out with hand motions:
"We say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord, Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord, Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen."

To celebrate my coming to Calvary Church, a parishioner gave me this Yes Lord! plaque for my office. Nearly every time I stop to look at it, I get that incessant chorus stuck in my head again. It would be annoying, but the truth is that Evans' song always builds up my energy and paints a smile across my face. Sometimes what I need most is to stop making excuses and stalling and standing around, and say: Yes, Lord! God is always there, waiting to take the sorrow and shame, the sickness and pain, and transform it all into joy. Why not just say yes?