Will the circle be unbroken
By and by Lord, by and by
There’s a better home awaiting
In the sky Lord, in the sky.

This has been one busy few days. The clock is ticking now to closing on the sale of our Wake Forest house, and there is so much that needs to be done.

So Rebekah and I drove over Thursday and worked extra hard through late Saturday afternoon. And there is a lot I could share – will share – about it but I have to get something ready to post for Sunday morning so I will keep this simple, just the one story, then hopefully have a little more time later.

The wind-chime story:

We were on the deck moving plants and deciding what goes, what stays, and what ends up with Habitat Re-Store or Goodwill. Then Rebekah asks me to grab my stepladder and unhook a set of wind-chimes that is going with us to our new home.

So I take it down and then, while I am making my way across the deck, the chimes catch a breeze from somewhere. And as they play (their motion absolutely random) clearly and without missing a single note or a beat the breeze plays the following: “Will the circle be unbroken; by and by Lord, by and by….”

“I can’t believe it,” I say when I hand the chimes off to Rebekah in the garage, “the wind-chimes just played ‘Will the circle be unbroken’ and it didn’t miss a beat.”

Rebekah smiles, like she knows something: “Bernie and Cynthia gave us those chimes,” she replies.

Oh, good grief! I remember the day they came by our house on Elmwood Court and gave us the gift. It wasn’t too very long after that Cynthia passed away. She asked me to sing “I can only imagine” at her graveside service, also George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord.”

“Will the circle be unbroken..?” I can’t help myself, I leak a little around the eyes again.

I know, I’m just an old softie. But when I hear those chimes asking clearly if the circle will remain unbroken? And then I am reminded of who had given us the chimes, and how beautifully our friend Cynthia believed, I can only say this, with conviction and with faith: “The circle absolutely will remain unbroken, friends, I know that it will.”

Yes, the circle will remain unbroken; and it is because of love, the perfect love that completely and irrevocably defeated (and still defeats) darkness, that we can say this.

We have every confidence in the power of love:

Today is Sunday November 3. Let’s not miss this opportunity to attend worship and to affirm the truth of the power of love. It is also a presidential election week, and what better way to walk into tomorrow – and the next day – than in the sure knowledge that because of Jesus we have nothing to fear, and that because of love the politics of fear have no power at all.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8: 37-39

In love, and because love is the only power that matters – DEREK