The Most Powerful Song

lost-places-4950624_1920 MichaelGaida pixabay

I was taught the song Jesus Loves Me when I was very little. I loved the song and sang it when I was playing by myself.

When I got older and full of myself, I was embarrassed to sing it in public.

When I taught VBS pre-school I taught it to the class.

When I attended college, I learned it in sign language and taught it to my first junior choir.

At a women’s retreat we were asked to sing the song to each other – a horror to this poor introvert.

Then came the day that song saved my life.

I was under spiritual attack almost every day as editor of the paper and some days were infested with angry, vengeful people.

One day a nice lady from the board of elections came in, newspaper in hand, to complain about our election coverage.

I was caught unprepared for the anger fueling her threats. I tried to remain calm as she interrupted every sing answer I tried to give her, question after question, a barrage of arrows.

Then my eyes went fuzzy and my mouth went dry as stress overtook me. I could no longer speak. I had to escape. I thought about how weak I was, running from a fight as I left the table, her threats growing louder.

Out the back door and up the stairs to the second-floor apartments I found a spot to sit and catch my breath about half-way up.

In a little while the front office lady came to check on me. I asked her to tell the angry lady I had left. In a way, I had left … my brain, anyway.

Jesus Loves Me popped into my head and I started singing it, struggling to remember the words.

Suddenly, an ugly squeal/groan/yell erupted from somewhere above and behind me. At first, I thought it was an old man trying to clear his throat, but it grew louder and sounded more like an enormous pig screaming while getting slaughtered.

I remained in my place, singing my little song, waiting for my heart to slow down.

The sound stopped. I felt better.

Feeling like the episode was over I got up and mentally prepared to face the angry lady once again.

But she gone. The office staff told me of her dramatic departure, and I apologized for leaving them to deal with it. We commiserated for a while and I mentioned her lawyer might show up.

I went back to my desk and sent off a short email to my boss, just in case the complaints started coming in.

Later I shared the entire episode with my Christian co-worker.

“What song were you singing?” he asked.

“Couldn’t you hear me?”

“No.”

“Jesus Loves Me.”

He laughed big and joyful and said, “You made the enemy mad. That’s a powerful song.”