CD Review: Tracks Left Behind (Bobby Bowen)
Through the years, I have always said I’m not a big “Christian country” fan. It seemed like groups that used to be classified as such was really not great musically or lyrically which is often what pulls me into a group.
A few months back, I received a CD from Bobby Bowen. Back in the 1980s, I listened to a group called The MidSouth Boys, and they were one group that had Christian country down. I listened to Bobby’s CD before finding out he was the lead singer of that group and, after discovering that, it was no surprise that I love his sound and his song selection. He sings a lot of songs previously recorded by groups of other genres but he makes them his own without taking away from the feel of the original.
I enjoy his uptempo country-sounding songs “Mile Marker 45” and “Other Side of the Radio” but he also does a great job on the praise songs, “Who am I,” “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever,” and “How Great is our God.”
Other songs on this project are “Finally Home,” “Little Man,” “My Life,” “Nobody Wins,” and “Greater Grace.”
The Cost of Serving Christ
Dottie Rambo told the story of how, when she was 8 years old, she wrote her first song and shared it with her mama. Her mama said to her, “Dottie, darling, you will pay a dear price for the anointing that the Lord has placed upon your life.” I think that was very insightful. It’s the part of Christianity people don’t think about.
If you are truly following God and the calling He’s placed on your life, the enemy is going to throw at you whatever he can think of to bring you down and discourage you. He wants so badly to see you fall or to have you distracted so that you end up not really doing what God has for you to do. Thankfully, we serve a God who will not let us down. He won’t force us to serve Him but, if we do so, He will give us the strength to stand in the midst of opposition.
If I were reliant on my own strength, I couldn’t have made it this far but, praise God, He continues to walk beside me. When I see the enemy begin to throw his darts, I turn to God and thank Him that He is greater than anyone or anything else on earth. Why would you want to serve anyone else?
Someday
This evening, I’m listening to the McKameys sing “Someday.” You know, someday, we’ll have no more pain, no more sorrow, no more stress. Someday, what we experience today won’t even be a memory; it will simply be gone. Can you imagine such a glorious day?
Unfortunately, not everyone will experience that day. Some will be longing for their hell on earth as the Hell they experience will be much worse. I don’t understand those who choose to curse God instead of accept Him but I do understand how easy it is to be focused on the here and now, yet how important it is to not lose sight of eternity.
For myself, I can’t wait to see Jesus. I imagine that as soon as I look into His eyes, I’ll instantly forget every turmoil on earth. Nothing else will matter at that moment.
What will your “someday” consist of? Joy and excitement or gloom and despair? The choice is yours. God is reaching out to you but you have the option to turn and walk away and miss the Home He’s prepared for you.
The Need for Repentance
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)
It seems like churches today have a lot more emphasis on being happy and outwardly expressive than on repentance and brokenness. I believe the world needs to see overflowing joy in Believers but there are also times when we need to examine our hearts and ask God to search us and show us the things that displease Him so that we can repent of those things.
Once we genuinely repent, we can get up full of faith and joy that God cared enough about us to bring conviction and that, with His help, we can continue to live a victorious life. If we allow God to remove the things in life that weigh us down, the sins that fix themselves to us, we will be free and will naturally radiate with His joy. People can tell the difference between reality and counterfeit. Let’s make sure we have something real to share and begin by repenting of whatever it is that God’s convicting us of.
CD Review: God’s Been Very Good (Patsy Bellington)
About a year ago, I came across the website for a lady named Patsy Bellington. I didn’t know anything about her but I emailed her and we ended up dialoging. I found her to be a delightful lady with a great sense of humor. I then met her at the National Quartet Convention and picked up a copy of her latest CD.
It’s hard to know what genre to place Patsy in. If there were an Inspirational category, some of her songs would fall into that but she fits well into Southern Gospel as well.
Although I tend to be partial to fast songs, on this CD I prefer the heartfelt way Patsy sings slow song. My favorite songs on the project are “He Knows,” “In the Garden,” “I’ve Been There,” “When I Start My Day With You,” and “Give Him Glory.” I think that covers all the slow songs on the project. đŸ™‚
Other songs are “I Came to Get My Blessing,” “God’s Been Very Good to Me,” “Not the Great I Was,” “He Will Do the Rest,” and “I Saw the Light.”
Channing Eleton’s Facebook Page
Some of you will remember Channing Eleton as the pianist for such groups as Poet Voices and Gold City but you may not have heard of him for a while. I’m happy to announce that he continues to serve the Lord through music, and he now has a facebook page. If you would like to keep up with Channing and are on Facebook, you may click on this link and then click the “Like” button. And if he comes within driving distance, I would encourage you to go see him.
I Surrender All
All to Jesus, I surrender
All to Him, I freely give
I would ever love and trust Him
In His presence, daily live
I hate to say it but I know few people who have truly surrendered “all” to Jesus. Most people who claim to love and trust Him don’t live the kind of lives that speak complete love and trust in all situations and circumstances. Yet that is exactly what God requires of us: our all. Everyone around me needs to know that it’s no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me. If others don’t see Christ, I have not surrendered everything to Him, and surrendering a part doesn’t count.
If Jesus were here giving you hourly instructions, would He find you doing a job well done or would He find you slacking and doing your own thing? That may be the perfect test to know how much you’ve surrendered.
Trust His Heart
“So when you don’t understand, when you don’t see His plan, when you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.”
One aspect of coming to know our Lord is learning to see His heart. If you truly know Him, you know that “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). You understand that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). And you find that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). If He loves us so much, why do people fall into self-pity and feel like no one cares? I don’t know how much more God could show us that He loves us.
Yet the fact is we sometimes lose sight of that love. Those are the times we need to draw near to Him once again and allow Him to draw near to us (James 4:8). If we maintain a closeness that sees Him for who He is, we will receive that “perfect love that casts out fear” (1 John 4:18) and we’ll be able to tell others of His goodness no matter what we are going through.
Conversing with God
It struck me this evening how easy it is to talk to my sister for hours. No phone, no internet, just one-on-one conversation hearing what’s on her heart and telling her what’s on mine. Why do we find it hard to give God that same undivided attention? For many people, 15 minutes of quiet time is a long time. To take more than that is almost torture but it really shouldn’t be that way. If we are close with God, we will delight in spending time with Him and will listen as much or more so than we talk.
Many people would have the time they need if they would avail themselves of it. It’s too easy to let things like TV, internet, friends, etc. get in the way but are those things becoming modern day idols? If they are taking precedence over God, that’s exactly what they are. If you are not getting the time with God that you need, you need to evaluate what it is that has become more important in your life. Then take the time to lay that thing at Jesus’ feet and ask Him to take it from you and to regain His rightful place. If you are sincere, it may not need to be a physical removal of the thing from your presence but it will at least be moved down the ranks of the priority level of your heart.
Time is Swiftly Passing
As we begin a new month, I’m looking at my calendar and all the things on it. At a glance, I know this month is going to fly as quickly as May did but, with that realization comes a greater desire to make sure every moment counts. I have a lot to accomplish in a little bit of time but, with God’s help, I know I can be faithful in each responsibility He gives me.
I also realize that, in the hecticity of life, it’s easy for me to focus on the tasks at hand and forget the importance of the people I’m “serving.” This is something I’m asking God to help me with too. If we do not have time for the people God puts in our lives, we are not effectively serving Him. He has called us to “do” but He has also called us to “be.” There has got to be a way to accomplish a lot in a day’s time and yet still make time for a friend. I’ve not mastered that yet but I try to be mindful of that and know that, if God wants me to change gears from what I had planned, He will help me to be more efficient when I get back to the task at hand.
With the year almost half over, I would encourage you to consciously make sure every moment of your life is counting for something. I’m working on the same thing.
