I may be a “Bad Christian” but I am loyal to my tens of readers. I have been hearing your overwhelming cry for the return of the iPod Devotional series. Okay, it was really just faithful reader Kathy who asked for it’s return with this question.

P.S. Will the iPod devotions return anytime soon? Love those!!

For new inductees to this site a brief update might be in order. The iPod Devotional Series is a periodic feature that involves, not surprisingly, my trusty iPod and the shuffle feature. I fire up the device, go to the shuffle button, hit play, and I write about whatever song is randomly selected from the 1,000 plus songs I have downloaded (all legally). My taste is quite eclectic so this is a bit risky. But we have already had a devotion based on Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar so how much further south can we go?

So Kathy…this one is for you. Today’s song is from a group called Five for Fighting and the selection is “Freedom Never Cries”. Wow. The shuffle could not have been more timely. Writer/singer John Ondrasik has become one of my favorites. Five for Fighting’s new CD (Two Lights) is incredible. Ondrasik writes personal and powerful songs that resonate with me. “Freedom Never Cries” is a song about how we take freedom for granted. Ondrasik talked about the song in an interview posted at liveDaily.

It was definitely a statement song that has a point of view. I think it kind of speaks to the fact that, I know at least for myself, we tend to only appreciate things when we need them. The chorus of that song says “I never loved the soldier until there was a war / Or thought about tomorrow ’til my baby hit the floor.” I know I never started thinking about my future until I had my children. I never talked to God until somebody was about to die. My grandmother passed away last year–she was 93. She had a great life. It’s funny that I tend to find religion when I need it. Or when somebody’s sick. My dad had heart surgery this year, and it’s amazing how religious I was that week. Freedom’s similar. Growing up here in the bubble of the United States, we are statistically lucky to be born into this country where freedom, to us, seems natural. We couldn’t imagine anything else. I think sometimes we don’t recognize that. Freedom never cries. Freedom doesn’t sit in the corner and whine and make us recognize it, per se. I think if you look at the world in general today, many countries don’t experience the same freedom of expression, freedom of religion, women’s rights, freedom of the press that we have. Obviously, that leads to a majority of the world’s conflicts today. I wanted to recognize that, “Hey, freedom has a price, it’s not a gift.” It’s a little reminder to ourselves, we’re some of the lucky ones here.

The song is powerful. And the timing is sobering as we face the opportunity to exercise one of  the most incredible freedoms we are granted. The freedom to vote. I am not going to tell you how to vote but I am going to ask how you can even consider not exercising this precious gift? I pray that you will take this responsibility seriously enough to dig past the pundits and the partisan blather. Freedom is like health. You don’t appreciate either one until they are gone.

H.L.Mencen once said, “We must be willing to pay a price for freedom, for no price that is ever asked for it is half the cost of doing without it.” Think about that.

And think about the lyrics of this song.

I never loved the soldier until there was a war
Or thought about tomorrow
’til my baby hit the floor
I Only talk to God when somebody’s about to die
I Never cherished Freedom

Freedom never cries…

Thank God today for the blessing of freedom. Be prepared to exercise that blessing in a few days. And I also thank God today for another kind of freedom.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.  Galatians 5  NASB

Cherish both freedoms. And take neither for granted.