Hearing His Voice

We all have things that some call core memories. Memories that stay with you forever. Memories that leave a mark on your subconscious and often guide us through life.

One of those memories for me is the very first time the steep trek was made up to the DeKalb Bears press box. Call me silly, but the memory of that first step into that tiny press box really did leave an indelible impression.

It is a memory that runs the gamut from thinking what a small space it was, to the utter awe felt at being there to cover my first high school football game in Bowie County.

There were just two chairs for us media folks, and they were right inside the door, and seemingly always in the way of others trying to gain access. But, that first time inside was magical for me.

And I remember so vividly what I heard inside that night, and the one thing that stuck out then, and still does to this day, was the voice of the play by play announcer. If you know DeKalb at all, you know who that voice was, and that is what makes this story special.

It is special because myself and so many others were blessed, touched and thankful to hear that same voice again, all these years later, back behind the microphone. Except this time, it was not in that tiny press box, but rather, it was in the place that is home to him, the place where God led him, as that impossible to not recognize voice comes from Maranatha Christian Center pastor Steve McMichael.

Everyone around here knows that Steve was injured months ago, and has endured months of treatment, surgeries and rehab. But you can rest assured that none of us really knows or can comprehend what Steve has been through. Mechele was there with him every step of the way.

This past Sunday morning brought the day that so many of us have prayed for over the last several months, and that was Pastor Steve’s return to his stage, his preaching and his place of leadership.

As I watched him bring the Word of God Sunday morning, there it was. He may have been seated, but what came back in my memory was…the voice. The pastor of Maranatha Christian Center was back in the place where he has led a congregation and been a guiding light for the community for decades. His voice rang out with the Word of God as it has thousands of times before and the presence of the Lord was there in that room, as a congregation celebrated the return of Steve and Mechele. At home, in my bedroom watching online, I felt it too.

There is simply no other word that fits the day other than miraculous. While most of us do not know the story of all that Steve, Mechele, and their family have gone through since the day of the accident, we do know that having him back preaching is a miracle.

Miracles do happen.

They may not happen when we want them to, or even when we need them to, but they do happen. Our God is a miracle working God, even when we may not see it.

So, for me, to refer back to what he preached on Sunday morning, it was his voice that first guided me to become a DeKalb Bear “fanatic” and it was his voice Sunday morning that reassured me that if we don’t get our priorities right and live as a Jesus “fanatic” then everything else is kinda pointless.

Pastor Steve talked about how it feels like time is flying by faster than it used to. I felt that. It really does seem like the days and months are flying by. Perhaps that is because the days we have to reach others for Jesus are counting down, and we need to be busy about the Great Commission.

There are so many like myself that were blessed to hear the voice of Steve McMichael back in the place where he belongs, and there is no doubt at all that the one who isn’t rejoicing over it is the one that we all know loses in the end.

So, if I may, praise the Lord for the return of the voice that I first heard in that tiny press box that helped make me a Bear fanatic, and thank God that we all can be fans of Jesus.

We can all agree, that’s some really good lemonade.