Guitars Without Gutters
Many mortal verses ago, I had a paper route. Each morning at 3AM I would deliver hundreds of newspapers to neighborhoods still sleeping. If anyone was awake, they may have heard the inspiring sounds of my music as I drove past their houses. I wasn’t blasting or blaring the music, but it was loud enough for both my ears and hearts to hear. For some reason contemporary Christian music kept me more awake and more alert than blasting any other genre of music, including rock. Of course I had my favorite rock stations and songs, but listening to songs about The Rock, delivered more encouragement and strength for my midnight missions.
The music I played was from the radio stations KLOVE and AIR1. Nowadays, I listen to Crossover FM (88.7, crossoverfm.org) to get my musical faithful fix during the week.
The Porch and the Playlist
As my encouraging collection increased, I wanted to share it with others. The opportunity presented itself as I was writing my weekly column for the local newspaper, “God’s Porch.” The idea came from a conversation I had with a loved one about what would it be like if we could sit with God on His porch and just talk about life. Later in life, As I was still jamming to Jesus music, I felt like writing about the songs would be a great addition to the collection of columns about how God wants to be a part of our lives—not just at church—from traffic jams and cramped cubicles to school, work, the boardroom, living room and every place in between.
I recently completed my collection of God’s Porch columns and you can read them all here on Substack under the “God’s Porch” tab. I hope you will read them, enjoy them and be inspired by them and you will visit with God in your mind and heart daily and often!
Press Play
What you will read here each week is a specific song that has inspired me over the years and I pray it will inspire you, too. I know not every song will be for every person and every situation. Some are slower, others are faster. And for some songs, you will discover that the lyrics are even more meaningful and powerful than the accompanying accompaniment. I am certain you will be inspired no matter where you are traveling, or what you are experiencing and enduring in your daily life. As such, I hope you will find some great new musical companions and an entourage of encouragement among (even above) all the other songs and playlists for your life.
If you are willing to tune in to more inspiring songs in your daily life, you will not only find God in the guitars and avoid the gutters, you will be better able and capable to tune out the lyrics that lie and lie in wait to deceive, detour and deter you from your mortal missions.
Alright, that’s the intro to God’s Playlist! Now it’s time to begin receiving, reading and listening to the lyrics, music and the Spirit of the Lord in your heart to help inspire you through your everyday journeys and verses of your life!
Today, I pray you will “press play” and as you listen to each song (Google will help you find them) and read their lyrics and my thoughts, that you will find inspired lyrics to comfort, encourage and empower your mind and heart for greater happiness and success in every season of your life!