During the summer of 1973 (a LONG time ago!) I was working with Texas Baptist Men doing resort missions at Lake Texarkana along with three other guys.
It was a great experience! Met lots of people in the camp grounds and had opportunities to talk with many of them about the Lord. We pulled a multi-purpose trailer that offered a basketball rim/backboard, puppet shows, refreshments and other fun stuff. It drew quite a crowd.
Toward the end of that summer we decided to take a break and go into the nearby town of Texarkana and see a movie. We watched Tom Sawyer – the Reader’s Digest version that starred Johnny Whitaker as Tom, Jodie Foster as Becky Thatcher, Celeste Holm as Aunt Polly and Warren Oates as Muff Potter.
The music was fabulous and the story a classic. To this day I still enjoy the songs from that film.
One of my favorite scenes is where Tom is scoulded severely by his Aunt Polly after which he decides to run away. In the process of packing his knapsack, he sings the song “If’n I was God”. The first verse is…
“If’n I was God, well, just for spite
I wouldn’t set the sun at night
Till everyone was treated right
By everyone else they see.”
It’s a sweet song from a powerful sentiment.
Fortunately, God’s character isn’t dependent on sentiment! As our sovereign God, He is in control of all things and has a divine purpose in all our circumstances – even those we don’t understand or agree with.
It doesn’t really matter what I would do “if’n I was God”. Thankfully, He is God…and I am not.
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