As I was laying in my bed this morning watching the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as a young minister, there was one thing on my mind: to study, learn, watch, and see how the clergy would handle a wedding this big.
But God had other plans. His plan was to show me how His blessings can show up unexpectedly.
My wife, laying next to me, watched in awe as the wedding procession inched to the gorgeous St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, in front of 600 guests and millions of people just like us watching worldwide.
As I took notes of the specific words, tone, and pace in which clergymen spoke during the Royal Wedding, my attention quickly shifted as I became fascinated with the nine-minute-long cello solo that was played by 19-year-old Sheku Kanneh-Mason.
As I watched him play, his eyes burned with passion, focus, and determination to play in excellence like he had never played before. His elbows peaked at just the right height and the strokes of his hands, wrist, and fingers moved in harmony with every note.
In amazement, I could no longer lay with my covers still wrapped around me. I whisked my covers off of me, sat up in my bed, and began to ask myself: who is this guy? Where did he come from? And how did he end up at the center of attention at the Royal Wedding?
After doing a little digging, I discovered that Sheku Kanneh-Mason got the call to perform at the Royal Wedding, after an unexpected personal invitation from Meghan Markle.
It turns out that Prince Harry was impressed with a performance Mason did a year ago. In fact, he was the first black musician to win the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year award, a competition that started in 1978.
Fast forward to today, May 19, just 12 months after a performance, in which Sheku Kanneh-Mason had no idea royalty was watching him in action, this kid all of a sudden went from taking cello lessons at a school in Nottingham to performing during the Royal Wedding ceremony being seen by millions around the world.
It was at this point in which God spoke to me and said, “The blessings I have often do show up unexpectedly.”
That’s good news. At that moment, I was encouraged that regardless of the obstacles we all face, God is still in control, and He can show up with WOW-sized blessings without notice! So if there is something that you’ve been hoping and praying for God to do in your life, be encouraged that nothing is impossible with God.
But don’t just take my word for it. There’s proof in Philippians 4:13. It reads, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” So regardless of where you are right now –– It may look like you’re being looked over, passed up, and or in last place, God has a way of showing up and taking you from last to first, the same way He showed up in a biblical story that is easy to miss.
The unexpected blessing and opportunity of Sheku Kanneh-Mason remind me of a story in Genesis Chapter 48, where an unexpected blessing shows up.
In this story, Joseph’s father, Jacob gave Ephraim, instead of his older brother Manasseh, the greater blessing. At this point in time, Jacob was an old man and wasn’t far from death. As you may recall, Joseph, was Jacob’s favorite child. He was the youngest and was given the multi-colored coat decades earlier.
So here it is, Joseph is standing in front of his father, Jacob, with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. In those times, a proclaimed blessing with the right hand was always the greatest and according to tradition, belonged to the firstborn. In this case, Manasseh was the firstborn, so Joseph proceeded to place Manasseh in front of Jacob’s right hand and Ephraim in front of Jacob’s left hand.
But something interesting happens: Jacob, nearly blind, crosses over and reaches for the youngest son, Ephraim, the one who should be the last one in line to receive the greater blessing…and gave him the greater blessing.
This story, just like the unexpected blessing of Sheku Kanneh-Mason at the Royal Wedding, it gives us as Christians a little insight into how God can bless us in unconventional and untraditional ways.
Jacob told Joseph that he crossed his hands over to the youngest son “on purpose” because although Ephraim may have been second, last, or counted out of the running by human standards, traditions, or didn’t seemingly qualify for the blessing, Jacob, through the wisdom of God, took Ephraim from the back to the front and gave him what he didn’t deserve – on purpose.
The good news is that God can bless you “unexpectedly” and God wants to bless you “on purpose” for all the world to see!
Just ask Sheku Kanneh-Mason, or better yet – YouTube the Royal Wedding and see for yourself.