Whitney Houston: A Child of God Called Home

Whitney Houston's passing has left me without words to say how I feel.

It's easy to think of her loss in terms of it being a premature dimming of an extraordinarily bright star in the music firmament. But we forget she was somebody's mother, somebody's daughter, and, most of all, a child of God who struggled and was deserving of grace and mercy, just like you and me.

I don't want to speculate on how she died. I'd rather remember how she lived when she was at her best. And, to my mind, she was at her best when she was singing songs of praise. For all the people who love her version of "I Will Always Love You" as her best song, for me, my favorite Whitney Houston song is "I Love The Lord" from the soundtrack to "The Preacher's Wife." Even as she's acting you can tell she felt that song from the depth of her heart, and her voice just soars like an angel when she sings it. Only God could have created a voice like Whitney's. That the last song she sang publicly was "Yes, Jesus Loves Me" is fitting. Her singing career ended as it began, singing a song of praise that I'm sure she felt from her heart.

So that's how I will choose to remember her: A child of God at her best when singing His praises. A child of God called home.

Rest in peace, Whitney. Heaven's choir just got a whole lot better.