It is ironic that today’s song is about how quickly time passes away. I am paying for my traffic sin by taking a six hour online defensive driving course. I am four hours into six hours that I will never get back. Time is an odd commodity. This course seems to be taking two weeks while my life has passed by in a blink. Today’s spin of the shuffle wheel pulled up a little tune from Willie Nelson. The song is titled “Funny How Time Slips Away” and it is one of his signature songs. I realize that Willie is, for some, an acquired taste. I do not endorse Willie’s recreational choices or his tax paying discipline. Although his IRS habits would qualify him for a Cabinet post now. But I digress. I do like his ability to make lyrics real. In this song he laments the loss of a love. Well hello there my it’s been a long long timeHow am I doin’ oh
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I have been doing this church thing for a lot of years. I have sung hundreds of songs over the four decades or so that I have been a follower of Jesus. Some songs have great meaning to me. Some lyrics moved me to deep worship of God. Some times I really meant what I was singing. Other times I was singing through the motions while thinking about lunch and when the kick off was going to happen. Gotta think that Satan loves the ADD brain. One song that has always made me uncomfortable came up on the iPod today. The song was put to music by the legendary George Beverly Shea in 1932. The words were a poem written by Mrs.Rhea Miller in 1922. Shea recalled the moment. At the age of twenty-three, I was living at home with my parents, continuing to work at Mutual Life Insurance and studying voice. Going to the piano one Sunday morning, I found
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The iPod shuffle today fell on one of my favorite Christian artists. Jeremy Casella writes amazing lyrics and is a talented singer as well. He has written a haunting and convicting song that draws from God’s warning to the church at Ephesus. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. (Revelation 2, NIV) The Church at Ephesus sounds like the kind of church that I would want to join. Clearly they had accomplished deeds, worked hard, guarded truth and even suffered. Sounds like they would be speaking at conferences about their effectiveness. Yet God is displeased because they forgot to love Him in the process.
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The iPod Devotional series has been an off and on feature over the years from your humble rambler. The concept is simple. I power up the trusty iPod, hit play and then push the shuffle button. The iPod randomly goes to one of my 1500 plus songs and I then write a blog about that song. It is risky business since my playlist is a bit eclectic. Today I decided to fire up the series again and the shuffle feature landed on a song by bluegrass singer Rhonda Vincent. God has a sense of humor. The song is called “You Don’t Love God If You Don’t Love Your Neighbor” and the lyrics begin like this. There are many people who will say they’re Christians and they live like Christians on the Sabbath day But come Monday morning, til the coming Sunday They will fight their neighbor all along the way. {chorus} Oh you don’t love God, if you don’t love your
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Thanks to my amazing ability to procrastinate (it may be my superpower) I get to recycle an article from last year. When last year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue arrived I shared this dangerous exchange with my wife. I was on the road when the swimsuit issue arrived at my home. The lovely Mrs.Burchett led me into a marital minefield with this simple statement. “Your swimsuit issue arrived today.” She waited. Work brain, work! Must step carefully. Following the lead of Nehemiah I “prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered”.  My response was simple. “Throw it away.” Joni thought she had (to quote Roger Clemens) “misheard”. “What?” “Throw it away. I don’t need to see that.” I think I surprised the Missus. This has been a process for me. I have gone over the years from eagerly anticipating the SI issue to guiltily perusing it to quickly flipping through the magazine and then tossing it. This year I never even saw the issue.
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I miss my Dad. It was five years ago this month that he passed into eternity with Jesus. I still find myself wishing I could share good news with him. I still sometimes think it is him when the phone rings on Sunday afternoons. I wish he could have seen how his grandsons in Texas have grown up to be godly and good men. I wish he could have seen how his daughter-in-law trusted God as she faced down cancer. I wish he could have seen how his son finally began to understand how to live in the amazing grace of Jesus. I wish I could have told him that his example gave me a foundation for how the grace of God is possible. If my flawed earthly father could love me that much and without condemnation then I can begin to understand how a loving God can love me despite my junk and flaws. Not every man can say that
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Chicken Little is feeling a little smug this week. It appears that the ultimate alarmist was right. The sky, according to the media and Washington, is apparently falling. The official theme song for the nightly news could be the song they used to sing on Hee Haw called Gloom, Despair And Agony On Me. Everyone sing along…. Gloom, despair, and agony on me Deep, dark depression, excessive misery If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at allGloom, despair, and agony on me I see a lot of gloom in our country. And I see a lot of fear. I think it is apropos to remember that the most frequent command in the Bible is “do not be afraid”. Followers of Jesus can be a tremendous beacon of light if we are not afraid. Confident and content Christians can offer real hope that can really change lives. I learned a valuable lesson about handling fear from our Golden Retriever Charlie. He died a few years
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