A Little Bit of Life

This summer I've been adding tons of music to my IPOD and trying to get it organized in such a way that it is the most useful for me. I've created genre files and artist files to make my music accessible, but my favorite thing to do is to put it on shuffle, and let it mix up all my eclectic music, one bizarre song after another. Yes, I have over 300 Christmas songs alone, so I end up listening to alot of Christmas music -- even if it's August! And I have a couple of files that some people would find strange. (For instance, I have probably 30 different versions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.) I have bagpipes, classical, ocean surf, and children's pirate tunes humming alongside Elvis, a huge country file, tropical music, oldies, bluegrass, and John Denver. I have 3 different religious files -- A capella christian, General christian (mix of contemporary, southern gospel, black gospel, whatever else I have. . . ), and bluegrass gospel that has many of the old hymns. I love it when they mix, because it "sounds like life to me". Everything about our lives is so segmented. We do "church" things at "church" (and nowhere else). We do "school" things at school; we do Christmas only at Christmas (as if Jesus weren't important except at Christmas --oh, yes, and Easter); dance music is relegated to the "dance halls", and we pull out our country/pop/rock/contemporary stuff when we're with our friends. But regardless of how society seeks to segment our life, it all belongs to God who gave it. He gave us the joy of the dance, the heart of contemporary Christian, the reason for the Christmas gifts, the lack of fear at Halloween because He conquered death;He gave the variety of cultures the world over with their wondrous diversity. He blessed Elvis with his incredible voice, and The Platters with their amazing harmony. There are lessons to be learned amidst it all, because God is in the middle of it. And as I think about it with my music, maybe I should think more about it with my life. Maybe, as Todd Agnew so adeptly put it, we need, "a little more You in the middle of me!" A little (lot) more God in the middle of our daily lives instead of making Him wait until Sunday. A little more Christian music mixed in throughout the week to encourage us to walk the walk every day. A little more Bible in our daily reading material. He's there -- beside you right now. Whatever music you're listening to, He's hearing it. Whatever movie you're watching, he's hanging out on the sofa, too. Let Him into the daily grind. Live out loud. Be salt. Be light. Jesus bids us shine. He bids us to turn up the music. Turn it up loud. . . .but make sure He's in the mix.