In Sync

We are called to be bold in the expression of our faith in Christ and our love for Him. Paul expressed in Romans 1:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

These verses represent to us a standard, the measuring stick, by which our lives can be evaluated. We can examine our own dedication to living out the gospel, and not doing it secretly, but openly expressing the life of Christ through us.  As people of faith who are convinced about the power of the gospel in true life change, we can walk with enthusiasm about what God has done in our lives through Christ and minister to others in sharing His love.

+++++

In Romans 13, the apostle Paul writes about how we are to regard those who are placed in
governmental authority. We can read:
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.
4 For he is God's minister to you for good.

A few weeks ago, a sheriff's deputy in Texas wanted to help build community relations, so he recorded a video in which he was lip syncing a popular song, according to an ABC News story. When the sheriff's office touted the deputy's lip sync skills, other law enforcement officers saw it as a challenge, and so it was on.

One man who took up the challenge, whom I mentioned a few weeks ago, was Jason Hepler, the police chief in Hollywood - Alabama, that is.  He and his canine partner recorded a video of the classic MercyMe song, I Can Only Imagine.  Hepler said in a press release, according to Huntsville TV station WHNT:

"I Can Only Imagine is a song that has been there for me in some of my darkest hours, when I was at the lowest points whether caused by bad decisions or because of things I was dealing with seeing from work this song would be my go to when I needed some uplifting..."

The video caught the attention of the national organization K9s4Cops, which raises funds to provide dogs for law enforcement organizations and schools.  Even Bart Millard's mom reached out to the chief with kind words.

But, Hepler also attracted the attention of another national organization, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, who is apparently not keen on the idea of those who serve and protect lipsyncing Christian songs.  FFRF, according to CBN, has also called out the Crandall, Texas police department, which recorded a lip-sync video of the Newsboys' song, God's Not Dead.  The CBN story related:

When Crandall Police Chief Dean Winters was asked by Pure Flix Insider about his response to the FFRF request, he responded with the emoji for a wink and a smile – a colon and a parenthesis.

Winters, a devout Christian, says despite the online debate, his community has rallied around the department's music video.

"Our community has come together and posted pictures and videos in support of the police department's 'God's Not Dead' video," Winters said. "We've also received numerous emails and letters from citizens and officers from all over the nation and people from a handful of other countries, expressing their gratitude to the officers in our department."

And, the chief echoed the sentiment of the original law enforcement lip-syncer, according to the article, which stated, "The chief is hoping his department's music video shows citizens in the Crandall community that his officers are 'just normal people.' He thinks this will help portray the men and women who wear the police uniform as human – as people just like them."

There's a website called CourageousChristianFather.com, which is keeping up with other Christian songs that have been used in lip-sync videos by law enforcement.  There's Chief David Benjamin of Aberdeen, Ohio, who did his routine to another MercyMe song, Grace Got You.  And, Chief Jeff Blake of Amboy, Illinois also did his to I Can Only Imagine.

And, there's a song written by a future Meeting House guest who will be featured at the free Christian music festival, En Fuego...Speak Life by Ryan Stevenson, which was also recorded by Toby Mac.  A Sergeant in Royse City, Texas performed that one.  

No matter what your walk of life might be, it's important that we allow our faith to inform how we perform the tasks at hand.  That's a key takeaway here, and it's certainly applicable to those who are charged with protecting our communities, who are described in Romans 13 as "God's minister to you for good."

In an age in which there are some who would want to vilify police officers in general, this is a reminder that yes, they are human beings and their charge is to serve people.  So, there should be no dividing line between the citizenry and those who are called - by God - to enforce order.  And, yes, those who have broken the law or are suspected of it should, as verse 4 of Romans 13 says, "be afraid" - "if you do evil," that is.

It's gratifying to see officers and even police chiefs who are allowing their light to shine, to not be ashamed of their faith in Christ. And, even to not be intimidated by those who would want to silence the expression of that faith.  We can rejoice that these people called ministers take that call very seriously.