Try it, you just might like it!

O, come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.  (Psalm 95:1 KJV)


I can't tell you when it happened or how, but it did.  Five years ago, maybe, I fell in love with Contemporary Christian Music.  I'm a music lover anyway.  I took piano lessons for a few years when I was young, but I refused to practice, so I gave that up.  Then in fifth grade when you're eligible to start band, and almost everyone gives it a shot, I learned to play the clarinet.  But again, refusing to practice, that didn't last long.  So instead I prefer to listen to music and sing like I'm Mandisa or Carrie Underwood, you know, just belt it out in the privacy of my own car.  Sometimes others are with me, sometimes they're not. 

So I started liking this music that our local Christian radio station played...then I got my kids liking it, then I converted Jay.  Don't get me wrong, I love to pop in my ABBA, a good old Beatles album or something from my highschool era, but on a regular basis, currently I prefer to hear the Christian music.  It is amazing what listening to this music has uncovered for me...like Scripture.  So many song lyrics are from THE book.  They are taken right out of the Bible, word-for-word, depending upon the version you read.  It almost makes me feel like a total idiot when I find a scripture in the Bible and think, hhhm, I didn't realize that was scripture, I just thought it was from that song!

My heart swelled with joy when my kids realized that the end of one of TobyMac's songs was the very scripture on our living room wall.  "Hey, mom, that's the scripture on our wall, isn't it?"  OH YEAH.  Kids are so observant.  They do notice things.  It is good and it is scary.  Good in the sense that, yeah, they saw that scripture and remembered it enough to recognize it on a song later.  Scary in the sense that when you don't think they are watching or listening, they are...loud and clear.  Something to think about if you listen to some real questionable or graphic secular music.

Last year on the way home from town, my little boy (six yrs old at the time) asked me what "conquered the grave" meant because Mighty to Save was playing and the kids and I were singing along.  That discussion led to my little guy telling me, "I want to go to Heaven."  Yee-haw.  All from just singing along with a song in the car driving down the road.  Can you sing Hallelujah, Hal-le-lu-jah!?

Our church now has a praise band.  It is unbelievable to me that we have a praise band at our little country church.  I know many others are amazed too, in favor and against somewhat, although they accept it.  We have some awesome and very talented young people who have stepped up to the plate and shared their talents with us.  We still play traditional hymns in addition to our contemporary music to keep everyone happy.  Fine with me, I don't mind sharing.  There's always room for compromise.  I like some old hymnals, but sometimes I just need a toe-tapping upbeat praise song to sing along with.

Thursday night, our family attended a free Christian music concert in Mattoon with some friends.  When we heard our new favorite group was performing, we were giddy, or at least I was.  Building 429 is awesome.  The words to several of the songs on their new album are just amazing. There are lots of different types of Christian music out there.  If you are curious, let me know and I'll give you a whole list of my favorites.  You should give it a chance, you just might like it!!