When you hear a song that was popular when you were in high school, does it transport you back to that time in your life? Music has that effect on me. All I need to hear is a few notes of a song, and I immediately know what it is. Sometimes I may even begin to cry if it triggers a specific memory or emotion. I can see myself at a special event and can picture the people that I was with. Music is one of those gifts that God has given to us that I truly enjoy.
This week I went to a Neil Diamond Concert at the Wiener Stadthalle with my husband. Neil Diamond is 76 years old, so this could very well be his last tour. One of his biggest hits is “Sweet Caroline,” a song that has been adopted by the Boston Red Sox baseball team for their seventh inning stretch. I find that funny, because Neil Diamond was raised in Brooklyn, so he should be either a New York Yankees or Mets fan. My parents and all my older siblings were born and raised in New England – Red Sox Country. I was born in Massachusetts, but we moved to New York when I was just two. Growing up I always knew that I was not to root for the Yankees, but it wasn’t until I was older that I finally understood why. There is a big rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees. My poor father rooted for the Red Sox until the day he died. He was born in 1917, so he was only one year old when they won the championship in 1918. They didn’t win again until 2004, but he had passed away in 1996.
Why am I talking about this? This week in elementary chapel, Miss Larson shared about the story of Abraham and talked about God’s faithfulness to him and his wife Sarah. When Abraham was 75 years old, God promised to make of him a great nation, but he and his wife had no children. How could he have many descendants when he didn’t even have a child? He had to wait 25 years for God’s promise to be fulfilled when at 100 years old his wife, Sarah, finally gave birth to Isaac.
Our Seed of Character trait this month is also faithfulness. It is defined as “Knowing that God keeps His promises and then following Him.” It is important that we are people who keep our promises, as well. My father remained a faithful Red Sox fan even though he never saw them win. That didn’t seem to matter. Year after year we would root for his team. (My entire family still does!) The question Miss Larson asked us was whether we could trust God to fulfill His promises even when they seem really big or even impossible. The answer is “yes”! We encourage our elementary children to practice being faithful, just like God is faithful, and just like my dear father was a faithful Red Sox fan.
By the way, the Neil Diamond Concert was awesome – and, yes, he sang “Sweet Caroline” as his first encore. I was transported back to the Red Sox Game that I attended in 1996 with my husband, three children, and my brother and his family. My father was supposed to go with us to that game at Fenway Park, but he wasn’t feeling very well that day. He died a few months later. I’m thankful that God gave us music and memories. And I am confident that He will remain faithful to fulfill His promises. That’s just who God is.
Because of His Faithfulness,
Sharon Brobst, Ed.D.