Anna playing at the park with Sam and Garrett... thanks Kristin!


Theme Songs

Okay, so I was with the kids at Wal-Mart again when something happened that made Norah start freaking out like crazy, which in turn caused every one shopping for every-day low prices to stare me down… What had I done to this child to make her lose control? Well, Anna and Norah were chewing gum, but Norah dropped hers on the floor. She bent down to pick it up and when she was about to shove it back into her mouth, I deftly swiped it out of her hand… thus, the screaming. As a hundred pairs of eyeballs burned holes in me, I tried to explain to Norah (above her screams) that we don’t eat anything off of the ground, especially at Wal-Mart! She just didn’t seem to understand that there are things we can’t see that are very, very important and have a huge impact on our lives. All she saw was moist, delicious gum, but I was thinking about microscopic landfills of virus-ridden germs collected from the shoes of three surrounding counties… a bacterial nightmare just waiting for that salivary highway.

Our lives are full of stuff we can’t see that we ought to think about a whole lot more than we do. There are spiritual realities all around us that we can’t measure or hold on to, but are real and that matter. Now, usually when people talk about this sort of thing they focus on angels and demons… you know, the spiritual forces that are battling it out in unseen realms. I know, those guys seem really cool and scary super interesting, but that’s not really what I want to talk about… because, while there are beings out there and in here and frankly all over the place waging an invisible war, there is other stuff too. There is heaven, there are those who have gone before us and have rested from their labors, there is God Himself and… there is music!

Psalm 32:7 says, “You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” Have you ever been watching a great movie and been brought to tears by the music? Have you ever known something bad was about to happen in the movie just because of the way the music changed? You know how certain characters have theme music and when it comes on it just makes you feel certain things… like Darth Vader, Rocky Balboa and Samwise Gamgee? When you see their faces and hear their music, you’re filled with whatever they want you to feel! Well, what if there was a theme song for you?

You see, I believe that when we are in something we shouldn’t be in, or when we go somewhere we shouldn’t go… when we say stuff we should never say or think things we regret like crazy, it’s usually because we forgot that the invisible God is with us and always watching. What if every single time you overcame a temptation or loved your neighbor or opened your heart to Jesus there was a triumphant and beautiful melody that played in heaven? And what if… what if it was your song… only yours? He surrounds you with songs of deliverance. If you could hear that royal tune, you’d never fall again. Strain your ears for it! He’s alive, He’s here and He’s singing! Let the knowledge of the song fill you and strengthen you to stand. One day I’m going to hear my song, and I want it to be familiar!