(For the next 4 weeks or so I am going to be working on the re-release of “When Bad Christians Happen To Good People”. So I hope you will forgive me and be patient as I re-release the iPod Devotional series while I am working on that project. I only get a few original thoughts a week and my publisher wants me to direct those to their project. Thanks. And blessings.) Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that I am a big fan of the group Casting Crowns. I love their CD “The Altar and the Door”.  I hoped it would be as good as their previous efforts. I was not disappointed. Today’s song in the iPod Devotional series is a song from that CD called “Slow Fade”. The lyrics struck a chord with my heart: It’s a slow fade when you give yourself awayIt’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price
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(For the next 4 weeks or so I am going to be working on the re-release of “When Bad Christians Happen To Good People”. So I hope you will forgive me and be patient as I re-release the iPod Devotional series while I am working on that project. I only get a few original thoughts a week and my publisher wants me to direct those to their project. Thanks. And blessings.) I am taking a dual risk by attempting an iPod devotional series. If the Apple attorneys take note this will quickly become the MP3 Playback Device Devotional series. So I hope the lawyers stay busy with bigger fish.  At any rate…here is how it will work. On the old iPod is a “shuffle songs” feature. You hit the button and it randomly picks a song. This month I am going to write a blog about whatever song the device selects on that day from the 1,600 plus songs on my iPod.
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Welcome to today’s edition of the iPod Devotional Series. The selection today is…Drift Away by Dobie Gray.  A bit of research revealed that Dobie Gray was born in a small Texas town west of Houston. His granddaddy was a Baptist minister and had a huge influence on Dobie according to his website biography. I would have loved to have seen how Dobie later broke the news to his granddaddy that he was starring in the Broadway musical Hair. Explaining the dancing was the least of his challenges if you know what I mean. At any rate, Dobie Gray is best known for today’s song, Drift Away. Here are some of the lyrics. Day after day I’m more confusedSo I look for the light in the pouring rainYou know that’s a game that I hate to loseI’m feelin’ the strain, ain’t it a shame Those lyrics caused me to reflect on the millions of emotionally lonely and hurting people in a country of ridiculous wealth
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(This is a gently read, low mileage previously published article. Thanks for your patience as I work on some new stuff for the reissue of When Bad Christians Happen To Good People. Sadly there is no shortage of new material.) Last week I was out strolling with dog friend Hannah and thinking about the lesson I would be teaching on Sunday. Recently I have been devouring the TrueFaced Grace series based on the book of Romans. This series of messages continues to challenge, clarify and mature me in my journey with Jesus. Teachers John Lynch and Bill Thrall are teaching truth that is a couple of thousand years old but they have a gift of connecting the dots in a way that rocks me to my core. So I decided to relate what God was teaching me from Romans and steal…uhhh…resource some of the material from the TrueFaced CD. I am always upfront about giving proper credit to the Leadership Catalyst
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(The most read post in the humble ramblings history is an article based on Craig Morton’s song “I Thought I Was Tough”. The song perfectly chronicled my bride’s battle with breast cancer. This weekend we quietly celebrated her third year as a “survivor”. Here is that original article with some updates.) I am not a crier. So it was a bit out of character when the tears started flowing as I drove through the canyon in downtown Dallas. I blame Lindsay for this event. Lindsay is my bride’s cousin who moved to Texas. She already loved country music so that saved us some time in not having to indoctrinate her. We love having her in Texas but she is going to have to stop introducing me to songs that make driving dangerous. Lindsay told us about a song that we just had to hear. So I downloaded it to the trusty iPod and fired it up as I drove to work yesterday. The song is
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Today is a bit of deja vu for me. I am in the middle of my real job which is television sports directing. This week I am working at a college basketball tournament. You may know that some of the humble ramblings appear at Crosswalk.com. I look at the credentials of my fellow bloggers on Crosswalk and I have to chuckle. Lots of doctorates and titles. Perhaps they haven’t noticed that my bio is filled with items like, “Dave is a member of Sam’s Club and once appeared on Wheel of Fortune.” The deja vu moment came from the realization that it was during a similar March madness basketball tournament that I got the inspiration for what would become my incredibly modestly selling book, “Bring’em Back Alive“.  Here is an excerpt from the introduction. My spiritual insights generally aren’t revealed during television broadcasts of women’s basketball. I suspect that hardly makes me unique. But inspiration came clearly and forcefully during a telecast of an NCAA Women’s basketball tournament
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A clarification for those unfamiliar with the strange world of sports television. We are like Carnival workers with fewer tatoos (generally) going from one traveling show to another. I still have other freelance contracts and work. The SEC package was just special and will be missed. So no retirement for now. And no bailout from the government. Good thing because I am small enough to fail. So it is on to the next town to set up the Tilt-A-Whirl! If you really are concerned about me feel free to buy one or both of my books.
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