Good Things
I was introduced to a song when I was in college by a former member of the Heritage Singers, Bill Young. I can hear the Millennial and Gen Z readers running toward the figurative exit. Hey, the Heritage Singers were cool back in my day!
So, I don’t know why or how Bill Young was at Southern Adventist University (SMC when I starting going there), but he saw a bunch of my friends and me rehearsing for special music for a vespers program. He came over to us, probably because he was bored and a bit curious. He listened to our modest vocal abilities and what we were planning to sing and then offered a few pointers. After a few minutes of cursory suggestions, something clicked and he began taking complete directorial control.
“You should sing the soprano part,” he said to my friend Charity (that was her name), “and Jingle (another friend), you should start from this position then move forward when you sing your part.” (Yes, I had friends with unique names). By the end of the evening, Bill had choreographed a whole singing performance of 8 people, moving and hitting our marks throughout the song, as if we were going to be broadcast on TV. It was so much fun. I felt like a genuine professional performer. When we actually sang the special music for vespers a week later, we made an impression because we looked concert-ready. And that’s how my performance career began (just kidding).
The most enduring thing about that experience, however, was Bill’s song suggestion: I Just Feel Like Something Good is About to Happen, composed by Bill Gaither. It’s a song I would not have listened to or enjoyed on my own, but ever since our Heritage Singers-esque performance, it pops into my head from time to time, more than 30 years later.
It’s a song about anticipating something good happening, even in the midst of pain and sadness, because of who we know and serve. The words are almost naively positive and optimistic. The last stanza ends with:
I have never been more thrilled about tomorrow
Sunshine's always bursting through the skies of gray
I just feel like something good is about to happen
And brother, this could be (my brother)
Brother, this could be (my sister)
Brother, this could be that very day
I cannot imagine living my life expecting only sunshine and smiles. The realities of this life are much darker, and mountains of positive thinking and happy feelings cannot meaningfully relieve human suffering. But the song reminds me of the power of anticipating good from God.
We know that God is the perfect gift giver (James 1:17) and God delights in giving good gifts (Matt. 7:11). So, it is perfectly logical to anticipate that “something good is about to happen.” I am not saying God will only allow pleasant things to happen in our lives or that the only gifts God gives are monetary. I am suggesting, however, that we can justifiably have the attitude that “this could be that very day” when “something good” happens. So, maybe keep your eyes open to how God might surprise you. Maybe even try being the first person to email the Compass editor and write “I just feel like something good is about to happen.”
You don’t need any other reason to be hopeful than knowing you are a precious individual to a very generous, infinitely resourceful, God of love. Also, YouTube search “Heritage Singers Bill Young something good is about to happen” and be transported to the 80s.
David Kim is the EM Pastor at WSK/Good Hope Adventist Church