Rock of Ages

It has been some time since I sat and listened to music. I took pretty much an involuntary music fast in Africa. It’s not that I don’t appreciate music, or think it a complicated nuisance, but it is a tool and the object of worship. Listening to it can be great for the soul, but there is the possibility of becoming a music junkie, that is certain! Every minute of the day some folks must have their tunes rolling, and boy I am empathetic, we each have our trials, our downfalls, we need to support each other, prayer especially for each other. So it has been nice to realize the benefits of music and its destructive power. I’ve spent the last week going over our culture study with the highly blessed, qualified, and caring people at Adventist Frontier Missions. I was working particularly with Dale Goodson, whose family also opened their home to me, which I very much appreciated and enjoyed. I also chatted with Laurence Burn, Trudy Starlin, John Baxter, Brenda Kis, for a while or for a short time. When one takes a look inside the organization and passion of AFM for missions, tears can come, tears of joy and inspiration. I am sitting now in the Detroit airport, listening to some beautiful singers Gaea Chapman and Billy Otto. Pan De Vida has their HQ in Berrien Springs, so I stopped by and picked up a CD, unfortunately our ABC’s are not a stalwart of Biblical and worshipful music anymore, though they still carry some quality, yet Pan De Vida is upholding the standard, a shining light. What does this all have to do each other, AFM, culture study, Billy and Gaea, Pan De Vida, it’s all a part of the big picture. As I study and understand better the complete package that Christianity is, the wonderful practical life Jesus offers, everything has significance. How easily I become disconnected, thinking this part of my life doesn’t affect another, that what music I listen to, that the words I say, the dreams I dream, the plans I make, the TV I watch, that these are all independent. I am never not a Christian, or in positive terms I am always a Christian! There are two Rock of Ages it seems in the world today, there’s the rock of ages play being done on broadway, representing all that is base, all that is pulling our souls down to a terrible spiritual grave, or there is the Rock of Ages, the all consuming wonder of life, that can make any life new. As a Canadian here’s the metaphor, I am hopping in my canoe and making a straight line to that everlasting Rock! C’mon let’s partner up and paddle forward!