Reckless With Our Praise
Did you know it is possible to be reckless with our rejoicing and praise? Consider the fate of this poor LA Dodgers fan who accidntally blew off most of his hand while celebrating their 2024 World Series victory.
A World Series celebration Wednesday night turned tragic for one Dodgers fan ... who blew off their hand while lighting a firework in the streets of L.A.
The horrifying incident happened in downtown just minutes after the Dodgers beat the Yankees in Game 5 -- and it was all, unfortunately, captured on video. ...
The explosion caused a fireball that engulfed the man ... and moments later, he could be seen stumbling away from the smoke in what appeared to be a state of shock. ...
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Dept. tells TMZ Sports ... first responders got to the scene at 2:30 AM Thursday -- and found the 25-year-old conscious and alert, but suffering from bilateral hand wounds. ...His injuries have been described as debilitating, but not life-threatening.
A UK media outlet, UNILAD, put it this way:
Seeing your favorite sports teams win is a sense of pure euphoria, and there are many different ways fans can celebrate the occasion.
Whether it be a pint in the pub with your pals after the big game, or going the extra mile and making a night out of that all important victory that puts your team on the right path.
Setting off a firework to mark a victory is certainly a new one on me, however, with one Dodgers fan doing such as he celebrated their World Series MLB victory over the New York Yankees.
WARNING: The graphic video is very hard to watch.
Looks like this poor Dodgers fan was pretty reckless with praise ...
Earthly joy and celebration are all part of the gift of being human. Such experiences, can, as the journalist above observed, bring us a sense of pure euphoria. Yet such experiences were never intended to be our sole, or even primary object of our praise and celebration. That role is reserved for God alone.
So don't be reckless with your praise! Enjoy this life and all its joys, all while recognizing that all praise, all glory, all "real" celebration, belongs to your Maker.
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2: 9, ESV).
"Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!" (Psalm 150:1-5, ESV).
"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods" (Psalm 95:1-3).
All Creation Has A Song
Some creatures are so quiet, they appear to make no sound at all.
"There are at least 200,000 species out there singing in ways that are silent to us, and that's way more songs than if you add up all of the birds and the fish and the whales and the frogs out there," says Rex Cocroft, a biologist at the University of Missouri who is fascinated by creatures that only use vibrations to communicate.
Cocroft recently managed to record the sound of a treehopper. The treehopper shakes their abdomen 100 times a second to produce a low sound that vibrates through the stem of the plant they are standing on. While that sound is audible to other treehoppers, it’s outside the frequency that humans can hear. Cocroft had to use a specialized piece of equipment, a vibrometer, which uses a laser to detect minute vibrations on the surface of an object. Using this, he was able to record the sound and allow us to hear treehoppers in conversation.
We ALL have a song to sing unto the Lord. Some of us shout it from the church platform or choir loft, and some sing quietly in "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" in our hearts. But regardless of tenor or volume, all Creation sings the glory of the Creator. And if we somehow choose to be silent, the Lord Himself declares that “[even] the stones will cry out!” (Luke 19:4).
"Everything on earth will worship you; they will sing your praises, shouting your name in glorious songs" (Psalms 66:4, NLT).
"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!" (Pslams 95:1-2, ESV).
My Contribution
(Said by Stacey King, after Michael Jordan scored a career-high 69 points and Stacey King scored 1 point against the Cavaliers.)
We can go two ways with this quote. There are times we think way too much of ourselves and we claim more credit than we deserve.
But there are other times when we remember whose team we are on. If I ever played basketball, it would make all the difference being on Michael Jordon's team; if football, Tom Brady's team, if baseball, Ty Cobb's team.
Since we have believed, you and I have been on Jesus' team. As such, we must humbly remember to give Him the credit for any good that takes place in our lives.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).