Joshua's "Gift" of Words

During Joshua's Senior year of high school, he started writing.

Not writing-writing...he'd been doing that since Kindergarten.

I'm talking, he started writing poems...he called them "songs."

The physical act of writing has always been challenging for Joshua, because of his fine motor skills, but this was different. It wasn't school-work...it was something he was doing for himself.

My mother-in-law got him a guitar one year, and Joshua would write these songs, and then strum the FIRE out of the guitar. And sing? OH MY WORD. We called it his "praise and worship" time.

One day, I asked him to let me read some of his songs, and he brought me a stack of papers, his scratchy handwriting all over them.

Y'all.

I nearly died.

The lyrics were beautiful. They made sense. They RHYMED.

I thought, "thank you, Lord, for this great blessing. THIS is going to be how Joshua makes a living!" I could just see it...he was going to be one of those rare prodigies, gifted by God. He would be on TV. He would be known all over the world. I could almost picture myself decorating our second home in Nashville! Ha!

Joshua always wished he could be a preacher...or a missionary. His greatest desire is to serve God in some way. Here was something he could do to get the message of the Gospel to others...all from his writing!

I reveled in bliss for a couple of weeks...maybe a month, and then, one day in my car, things became crystal clear in an instant.

I typically listen to K-LOVE, but they were having a telethon, so I switched it to a country station. As I drove down the road, I thought, "I don't think I've ever heard this song before...but the words sound SO familiar."

Mmm...mmm...

You know where this is going.

My little stinker was getting on the internet during his computer lab at school, and copying the lyrics into his notebook. I'll admit...it WAS kind of ingenious. But we had a long talk about how you can't copy someone else's songs, and now he writes his own stuff. And it's way better. Maybe not better technically speaking...but better, because it comes from his heart.

We each get a special poem or song at Christmas or on our birthdays. I get one on Mother's Day, and Jim gets one on Father's Day.

He's written some really sweet tributes for people, too. One time, he wrote one for a former coach who was dying from a brain tumor. The coach's wife had it printed out in the bulletin at the funeral, and even asked Joshua to read it during the service! It was a HUGE honor, and I think it blessed his Coach's entire family.

All because a little Downsy boy used the talents God game him...to bless others.

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:17