The shuffle landed on a song today that I had already written about in the last series. I went back and read that piece, and unfortunately, it still works. So here is a solid gold flashback… The tune is called Clumsy and it is written and performed by one of my favorites, Chris Rice . You can find the song on the CD Deep Enough to Dream. How interesting that the third song in the shuffle series is my anthem for my Christian journey. ESPN’s Chris Berman signature line for a football blooper is “rumbling, stumbling, fumbling”. That would have been how I described my Christian walk until I found this song. Here are the lyrics from Chris Rice that I could have written if I had any musical talent or ability to write lyrics. Those were the only two obstacles that kept me from writing this song. You think I’d have it down by nowBeen practicin’ for thirty yearsI should have walked a thousand milesSo
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I have never understood opera. My entire exposure to opera until just recently was from Bugs Bunny. Everything I knew about opera was from “What’s Opera, Doc?” and “The Rabbit of Seville”. To go from Elmer Fudd singing “kill the wabbit’ to having opera music on my iPod is an amazing transformation. Sadly, I haven’t gotten more sophisticated or cultured. My budding interest in opera came from an unlikely source. Today’s iPod shuffle landed on a song that I couldn’t even spell a month ago. The song is called Nessum Dorma and it is from the final act of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot. Believe me, I had to Google that bit of info. I also found out that the song has been a signature of famous Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti who, ironically, passed away today. Nessum Dorma is Italian and translates to “let no one sleep”. But the reason this music popped up on my iPod was not the song but the singer. A
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The return of the iPod Devotionals starts with a song by James Taylor. The shuffle landed on a classic by Sweet Baby James called “You’ve Got a Friend.” It is an appropriate place to restart the iPod Devotionals because friends have been on my heart and mind more than usual this week. Life is hard. Good friends are a big part of making it to the finish line successfully. Taylor’s lyrics resonated with me after returning from seeing friends in California. Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend. You’ve got a friend. Ain’t it? Real friends are a treasure. I hope I don’t insult your intelligence if I remind you it was 17th century French classical author François La Rochefoucauld that wrote, “A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least thought about acquiring.” That is too often true. Joni and I have many good friends and that is a blessing. But you will have
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Today was to be the renewal of the iPod Devotional Series. But a sick canine friend makes a trip to the vet today’s priority (nothing life threatening). So please be patient with another gently read preview. Regular readers of these humble ramblings remember a daring effort called the iPod devotional series. It was daring because I would hit the random shuffle feature and write about whatever song came up in the sequence. Because of my weird music tastes the concept was fraught with potential peril. My marginal integrity was challenged when a song by Toby Keith appeared on the screen but I gave it a shot. Today’s song is called Watching You by country singer Rodney Atkins. The song is reminiscent of a very poignant song by the late Harry Chapin called Cat’s in the Cradle. That song piled guilt on a lot of Dad’s in the 80’s, myself included. Atkin’s song recalls his shock when his little boy drops a mild expletive
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Next week we restart the iPod Devotional Series. To give you a hint of things to come here is a sampler from the last round. Today’s edition of “As the iPod Turns” lands us on a song by Percy Sledge. I loved Motown music as a teen and I still do. My secret desire was to perform as the bass singer with the Temptations. Remember the song “Papa was a Rolling Stone”? I wanted to be the guy that said “and that ain’t right” in that deep, deep bass voice. But my lack of talent, dancing ability, and the general composition of the group precluded that dream from becoming reality. The tune that came up today is a classic. “When a Man Loves a Woman” reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&B charts in 1966. The song was number 54 in the 500 best songs of all time in a poll by Rolling Stone Magazine. Anyone who has ever been in
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One of the more popular series in the storied history of “Bad Christians” was the iPod Devotional Series. The idea was to take my iPod device, hit the shuffle feature and then write about whatever song popped up. It was a fun and well received series but then I got distracted by a shiny object and it faded away. So I am pleased to announce that the iPod Devotional Series will return in September. Here is a sample of one the devotionals from last year to (hopefully) whet your appetite. Today’s song that the iPod shufled to is Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts. Earlier I wrote a very personal blog earlier featuring another song by Rascal Flatts called Skin. The song dealt with a young girl’s cancer, losing her hair, and going to the prom. It brought out the tissue inventory because Joni and I had to address that issue (not going to the prom…losing her hair) during her breast cancer journey. Today’s
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(WARNING TO THE HUMOR IMPAIRED – The following post may offend some. If you are easily irritated or have a tendency to email nasty comments to blog writers please do not continue. Thank you). Recently God has been sending me a consistent message. Get out of your comfort bunker. Give up control and trust Me. I happened to stumble onto a parody of a beloved poem called “Footprints in the Sand”. The original poem was written in 1936 by Mary Stevenson. It told a beautiful story of how God carries you through the hard times. If you somehow missed the original version you can click here to read it (be warned that there are annoying surf sound effects at the site). But a guy named Sam Glen apparently was getting the same voicemails from God that I have been receiving. Glen did a little rewrite of the beloved poem reminding all of us that just leaving a “mark” is not good enough. One night I had a wondrous
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