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In spite of the many, many minutes I invested in the clarinet, I’m not a musician… but I’m pretty good at playing the radio. I’d love to play an instrument or three, or seven, but it’s probably not gonna happen.
So what’s with the title, “Listen to the Music,” you ask? Thanks for asking. I’ll tell you: my life has a soundtrack. It’s in my head all day, every day… and - unfortunately - sometimes late at night, and early early in the morning. Some of my earliest and fondest memories involve music.
As a kid, I was mesmerized by the stack of 45s in our living room. It was, at times, taller than I was. For those who don’t know what 45s are, they’re small vinyl records with one song on each side, played at 45 revolutions per minute (RPM). The first song I ever memorized was If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot. My older brother played for me every Beatles song ever recorded, over and over. My father was a printer, and brought home some of his work as a Christmas present: Styx’s Grand Illusion was my first album. Nancy Wilson jammed in my friend’s basement with her bluegrass band before joining Heart. My first date was at an Air Supply concert.
I have over 26,000 songs on my computer. I can’t help myself. I just spent two hours watching other people react to Bruce Hornsby songs on YouTube. If I’m in the car, I’m listening to music. If I’m out for a walk, I’m walking in time to some song in my head. Why am I telling you this?
First, I don’t often share about myself… so even though some of you have been reading what I write for years, you probably know almost nothing about me. Second, I want to encourage you to add some Christian music to your playlist. Why? Because it’s good for you. It helped me grow in the faith. When I need some encouragement, there’s a song for that. When I’m feeling great and want to celebrate, there’s a song for that too.
Listening to Christian music has helped me so much that I created two different CCM websites over the years. The first was CCM Links, and it was the biggest list of Christian artists on the interwebz. The second is Awesome Christian Music, which is still online. It’s full of videos with lyrics and links, personally curated by yours truly.
Here are a few of the older songs that stand out in my mind today as food for my growing Christian heart:
He’ll Take Care of the Rest by Keith Green
Kingdom Seekers by Twila Paris
Center of the Mark by 4Him
Heal Me by Aaron Jeoffrey
Rescue by Acappella
No More Faith by Andrew Peterson
Almost Home by MercyMe
Kingdom by David Dunn
I could literally list a thousand more, and then another thousand. These songs, and countless others, have given me comfort and peace and joy and laughter and helped me cry when the tears just wouldn’t roll. You may have noticed that each weekly newsletter has some music in it. That’s very purposeful! I want you to get what I got from so many faithful artists.
To that end, I’m hoping to incorporate more of these great songs when I write. It’s funny: almost everything reminds me of a song, but I don’t really include them in what I teach. I don’t know why, but I’m going to fix it.
If you don’t care for the Christian music you’ve heard, stay tuned… I only share awesome songs. Give them a try. Add them to your playlists. Listen while you drive, or work out, or in your quiet time with God.
I also welcome your recommendations!
I love you all.
❤️
🔖 Helpful Resources
Soft Discipleship Through Friendship - Never underestimate the value of simply following Jesus where people can see you.
Mere Science and Christian Faith - Greg Cootsona runs Science for the Church, explaining that good science and the historic Christian faith are not at odds. He’s written several books, including Mere Science and Christian Faith. (Video: 1:30)
How To Resist Content Anxiety - Everywhere online we’re bombarded by images of the neat, the clean, the perfect, the happy… but a lot of that is fake. Nothing but marketing for clicks and views. You can resist. You should resist!
A Tribute to David Livingstone - Interesting information about this somewhat legendary missionary and explorer who spend much of his life sharing the gospel in Africa and documenting its interior.
The Doctrine of the Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most contested of Christian doctrines. As you might imagine, any attempt to explain or describe God might be met with skepticism or disagreement or outright condemnation.
🚀 Quotable
I long for the shape of things to be true to their form: love in a circle, hearts in a line… molded by sacred design.
- Susan Ashton - Benediction
🎶 Casting Crowns: Broken Together
Marriage is hard. When things get tough, we tend to pull away from each other… but that’s not going to make things better. This is the song I wish all of my friends would sing to their loved ones.
What do you think about when you look at me
I know we're not the fairy tale you dreamed we'd be
You wore the veil, you walked the aisle, you took my hand
And we dove into a mystery
How I wish we could go back to simpler times
Before all our scars and all our secrets were in the light
Now on this hallowed ground, we've drawn the battle lines
Will we make it through the night?
It's going to take much more than promises this time
Only God can change our minds
Maybe you and I were never meant to be complete
Could we just be broken together
If you can bring your shattered dreams and I'll bring mine
Could healing still be spoken and save us
The only way we'll last forever is broken together
How it must have been so lonely by my side
We were building kingdoms and chasing dreams and left love behind
I'm praying God will help our broken hearts align
And we won't give up the fight
It's going to take much more than promises this time
Only God can change our minds
Maybe you and I were never meant to be complete
Could we just be broken together
If you can bring your shattered dreams and I'll bring mine
Could healing still be spoken and save us
The only way we'll last forever is broken together
Maybe you and I were never meant to be complete
Could we just be broken together
If you can bring your shattered dreams and I'll bring mine
Could healing still be spoken and save us
The only way we'll last forever is broken together
- Casting Crowns
❤️ Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement… I love hearing from you. For those interested in providing support, details are on my About page. Some links may be affiliate links, which support the ministry.
Also: paid subscribers now have access to Direct Messages! If that’s you, feel free to take advantage. I like hearing from you.
I have a worship playlist, road trip, war, and training. I’d screenshot it if comments would allow me to post it.
I also am an audiophile, even to the point that I must intentionally turn it off for a time to get other information into me.