When you cry I cry along with you.

Since we own an electronics recycling business, I never have to buy electronics.  So when I needed a new cell phone last year Jerry found me one from the pile of e-waste and it became my new phone.  It had a scratch on the lens and a piece of the plastic housing chipped off, but it worked fine.

The prior user had installed a ringtone that I liked, so I kept it.  It was a song that said, "When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you.  When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you."  I figured it was just another pop song, but whenever the phone rang I imagined that God was speaking to me with the gentle assurance of His presence.  I didn't want to ruin my interpretation of the lyric by looking it up and finding that it was just another love song.

It wasn't until tonight that I finally researched the song and found that in fact it is a pop song, but one in which each of the three verses tells of a tragedy, and a person who calls out explicitly to God and God replies, "When you cry, I cry, I cry along with you.  When you smile, I smile, I smile along with you."  It is a very poignant song about human tragedy and the love of a God who answers and comforts us when we suffer.

The band is T.O.K., a reggae band from Jamaica and the song is called Footprints.  No, they're not a Christian band, in fact much of what they do is unGodly.  But somehow here they spoke a deep and penetrating truth that I have encountered in the Word of God, and in my studies of the suffering of the Israelites and all people.  Even in a prior blog (below: "Mother Asks Again") I quoted Exo 3:7: ""The Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering."  God does not necessarily prevent awful things from happening, but He does suffer with us, and He rejoices with us.  He is God with us, Immanuel.

Tonight I am grateful for a God who would place a message in my phone for me, to remind me of His abiding love, His care, His empathy for such a one as me.  I am touched by Your gentle comforting voice, my LORD.  I believe you, and am in awe of such a loving Father.