Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Vlog (01/16/25)
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TITLE: The God Who Sees | Previous Challenge Entry
By Margo McKenzie
01/23/25 -
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“Absolutely.”
“Which one?”
There are so many in Brooklyn, one on just about every corner.”
“What about the Brown’s church?”
“We’ll see.” Deep down she knew the God the Browns knew could be found in more than one place. “We’ll go to the church I grew up in. It’s been years since I’ve been there.”
The two dressed and headed out the door to a bus stop a block away. The ride was a short one.
As they approached the church, Paul had second thoughts. He questioned whether his family could ever be like the church-going Brown family down the block. But the upbeat singing he heard just before entering erased those thoughts quickly. He wanted to see what caused all the excitement inside.
A woman in a white uniform led him and his mother to their seats.
Church members stood clapping. Others clapped from their seats. Warm booms from the drums, sharp pangs of an electric guitar, and melodic notes of a piano provided perfect rhythms for the six singers and kept Paul’s eyes focused. If a congregant’s head or hat blocked his view, he’d inch to one side to find another opening.
The more Paul listened the more he heard his mother’s story playing back to him.
One singer even looked like his mother in complexion and height. The words she sang were about a woman named Hagar. The singer made Paul see what she sang—a woman in the desert alone with a baby boy. He saw and heard his mother’s story played out in this musical vlog about a mother and son, abandoned by her husband in the wilderness. Paul turned and looked at his mother and knew she sensed the same thing. He could see the tears swell in her eyes.
Paul looked down at his fingers. He thought going to church would make their lives more powerful and make them feel more protected. Instead, it made his mother sad.
He nudged his mom with his elbow. “We don’t have to stay,” he whispered.
She glanced warmly at him, put her forefinger to her lips, then returned her gaze to the front.
The song continued with a woman named Ruth, but most of his mother’s tears fell when she sang of David. When they sang about the “rock of salvation” and “the power of His presence,” she looked at Paul again.
Those words got Paul’s attention too. When he glanced at his mother, this time, he no longer saw tears in her eyes. Instead, a slight smile formed in the corners of her mouth and lifted her cheeks. Will this be enough to make me feel strong like the Brown family? he wondered.
Paul tried not to let the crying baby sitting beside him distract him. He kept hearing them sing, “I am the God who sees.” They sang those words over and over. Paul thought they wanted to make sure he heard them.
After the singing, a few announcements followed, and Paul struggled to stay awake for the rest of the service. At the end, one person joined the church.
Outside the church door, he continued buttoning his coat. “Mom, I thought you were going to get up from your seat when they invited new people to join.”
“Hurry, there’s our bus,” she said before she could answer. They ran to catch it before it took off.
Once seated, Paul continued. “Mom. . .”
“I know you thought I was gonna join. But what did you think about the church?”
“I liked that they kept singing “I am the God who sees.”
“Yes, that was beautiful.”
“That means every day, in living color, he sees what we do and hears everything we say, and he sees what everybody does to us and hears everything others say to us too,” said Paul.
“Yes, exactly. But like the pastor said, “He doesn’t just watch us, he sends a part of his spirit to lodge within us.”
“How does that happen?”
“ Just ask him to come right here,” she said, pointing to his chest and he will,
“You mean to tell me that’s all the Brown’s did?
“That was their first step.”
The next stop was theirs. They exited the bus and headed home renewed.
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