No, I’m not referring to the genetic background test kit, although I do want to do it. I’m referring to the 23rd Psalm.
I am not a highly religious person in that I don’t belong to a church, but I am highly spiritual in that I believe in a supreme power — God — and the role that Jesus played in delivering that power to us.
The 23rd Psalm is said to have been written by King David (of David and Goliath fame). It is simply beautiful, and I discovered it at age 15 when I had a tumor in my leg the doctors believed to be cancerous. Only a few months before an acquaintance my age whom I played Little League with, died of bone cancer in his leg.
I was probably a week away from surgery when I was limping through the gymnasium at my high school when I came to a chalk board on wheels with the words of the 23rd Psalm written on it. I didn’t know it was the 23rd Psalm at time, or that it was a Psalm at all, or what a Psalm even was. But I read it. I was scared to death of dying – that the same fate that befell my Little League friend would befall me too. Then I read the writing on that chalk board. Suddenly I wasn’t afraid of dying anymore and it really impacted me that that was the case. Shocked even. It was an epiphany, the likes of which I’d never before experienced. But the anxiety disappeared that moment and didn’t come back.
When I woke up from surgery in Rochester General Hospital, the first thing I did was grab for my left thigh. . .And it was still there! It was heavily bandaged and numb still from the anesthesia, but still there! My mother was there and told me the great news: The surgeons had found and removed a blood clot the size of a golf ball attached to my femur, that was the result of a football injury and had evidently calcified. They hadn’t been able to diagnose it because this was in the days before MRIs and advanced CAT scans. It took going in to find out. They had told me if they found cancer and if it was bad enough, they would have to take the leg.
Leading up to the surgery I had tracked down the verse I’d read on the chalk board and discovered it was the 23rd Psalm. I found a small prayer card with it printed and kept it with me everywhere I went. I read it constantly.
Here is the 23rd Psalm:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
As my gift to you, my kind reader, I’m sharing a wonderful breakdown of it in audio form for your meditative pleasure. It is from Reverend Doug Bottorff of Independent Unity Church in Grand Junction Colorado: http://www.unitygj.org/. Please enjoy and may it bring the peace it brought me so many years ago. He breaks the 23rd Psalm down it six 3-ish minute parts. It’s fantastic.
23rd Psalm, Part 1: The Lord is My Shepherd: https://youtu.be/Gb1Ipw_iCuY?si=rVKwExrtLHjWP1Zs
23rd Psalm, Part 2: Beside Still Waters: https://youtu.be/8AgfHaiBZTc?si=EG96DPlJHFg7ZXjc
23rd Psalm, Part 3: The Paths of Righteousness: https://youtu.be/54dfIMNuubM?si=Z1hcA5ZEU6yv45iF
23rd Psalm, Part 4: Finding Peace in the Valley: https://youtu.be/a1x8UMOTpH4?si=E5Eubp9ZcZ2xXPm1
23rd Psalm, Part 5: My Cup Overflows: https://youtu.be/XjLFQK-ikZM?si=WO-dZw_1vgYt_fBV
23rd Psalm, Part 6: Dwelling in the House of the Lord: https://youtu.be/g3OmJzBuMdw?si=scjkOCtqG5Qac8UN
Thank you all, Gary.