I have reached a milestone with American Airlines of one million miles. I'm on permanent gold status at this point. Now I'm working on my second million milestone.

When God Sings

“Music to my ears”.

No one ever says, “that was a lecture to my ears”, or “that was a sermon to my ears” or even “that was a class to my ears”. It is always “music to my ears”. There are some words so delicious, so heart-poundingly felt, news so glorious and inspiring, that hearing it can only be likened to music-to our ears.

Good news is music to our ears. It is best heard sung, not announced, taught, nor even preached.

David is the only person labeled as one “after God’s own heart”. Heady title. How did that happen? He was a warrior- killed a Giant in an unorthodox way, and many thousands more. God is a bit of a warrior but I don’t think that earned David God’s highest compliment. David was also a king. Israel had many of those and he stood out. Yet his moral foibles were among the worst of any religious leader they ever had. David may have been the very first “wise guy”. As you read his advice to his son, Solomon, on how to “consolidate” his kingdom it reads like a script from a mafia movie. “Wise up son and get rid of the competition”. And he proceeded to snuff them all out.

But his first gig was as pastor, of sheep, not a church. David spent his formative years outdoors, and except for the sheep, he was alone. Alone and listening. That is where his heart was cultivated. Listening, quiet, silent.

David was a composer/musician/singer/poet. Those attributes, I firmly believe are what made him God’s “heart messenger”. Music is the best expression of God’s own heart. All heart language has melody. And no one has ever expressed God’s heart language more movingly and accurately than David. He captured, elevated, and penetrated God’s own heart and sang it back to us, in hymns, in poetry, in song.

Music to our ears.

Since His words are living, active, and penetrating, they are never more marvelously so than when they are put to music. God doesn’t shout nor lecture nor preach His heart language. He sings it. With so much noise around us, clamoring for our attention if not for our souls, music, exquisitely and enthrallingly, even charmingly invites us to listen. Stop, listen. There is something vastly richer going on and your heart needs to pay attention.

Music to our ears.

Shakespeare, in “The Twelfth Night” wrote: “If music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it”. And in “Merchant of Venice”: The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not mov´d with concord of sweet sounds…Let no such man be trusted.

Music pumps life into our tone-deaf souls. The lyrics are essential, but elevated by the rhythm and melody of the composition. As Shakespeare says, it moves us, and it is in us. Musiclessness is not to be trusted, neither in life nor religion. Words, His words, especially when sung, become transcendent. It is what nourishes our relationship with the divine.

Arthur Rubinstein, the greatest pianist of the last century, said; “You cannot play the piano well unless you are singing within you.” There is a song to be sung within each of us. And it is the original composer, poet, and musician, God who not only conducts that music, He sings to us.

And it is like music to our ears.

“Music is God’s gift to man. It is the only art of heaven given to earth and the only art of earth we take to heaven”. Charles W. Landon

And so Acappella, 8 days, 5 concerts, 4 worship services, and 14,000 miles traveled. It’s not only about the numbers, it’s about the music, the hearts, our hearts, and the hundreds and hundreds of exuberant, young, expectant, longing, weary, old, quadruple-by-passed, barely pumping, vibrant, vivacious and barely under control hearts. You gifted us. You touched, renewed, provoked, penetrated, CPR´d, and pumped life into our hearts. We were made more alive and have been changed. We will never think of or experience music the same way again.

Poets, musicians, composers and singers. You are music to our ears. And hearts. A group after God’s own heart. And ours also. We hear Him in your voices.

God sings to us.

Jerry, his son Kris and wife Gail barely survived three
exciting, invigorating, fascinating, hilarious, moving, inspiring, profound, silly, transformational, sensational, unequalled, harried, soothing, emotional, unbelievable, eye-opening, heart-rendering, tender, unforgettable, unregrettable, beautiful, grateful days with Acappella in Brasilia as a part of their tour of churches in Brazil this past summer. They served as guides and translators for the group and their wives. He wrote the above as a tribute to their voices and ministry. And to the original Singer.

Our friend, Jerry Heiderich, who assisted with hosting and translating duties during our Brazilian trip, shared this on his Facebook account:

Maybe it was best that I didn't follow the news about this incident, which happened on our same route, the night before we flew home.  We arrived this morning on our Continental flight from Rio de Janeiro to Houston, and I didn't really know the details of what happened the night before.  I did, however, wonder why there were so many cameras and news people at the Continental check-in counter when we arrived.  Special thanks to those of you who always pray for our safe travels!

We were blessed by spending time with so many special people in Brazil, including the folks in Brasilia. 

How can anyone not be moved by the sacrifice of God Himself -- specifically, Jesus - the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world?  One of the most moving passages in Holy Writ offers these words: "By His wounds, we are healed."

On Sunday, Melissa, Kimberly and I presented this song to the congregation in Itu' Brazil.  Kimberly does a fabulous job with the solo sections.  Here are the lyrics to this Stuart Townsend song:


I was pleased by how the harmonies were locking up, until we came to the final words, "His wounds have paid my ransom."  For a person who is known for smiling when I sing (joyful songs), I could not hold back the tears when thinking of how my sins caused Jesus' agony. 

"And this I know with all my heart - His wounds have paid my ransom."

The Brazilian Acappella fans are unsurpassed!

The morning after our Saturday evening concert, we enjoyed worshiping with the church family at Itu', Brazil.  Our daughter, Melissa, is serving as the sound engineer for this entire tour.  Having engineered Acappella's two most recent albums, she is no stranger to mixing music.

Waiting in line for a special experience in Venice.

Look at the crowds of this mid-day view of Venice.  It was hard to become accustomed to the fact that this city does not have any roads; just canals and boat traffic.

I highly recommend visiting Mammoth Cave National Park.

As I continue posting reports of our May Mediterranean cruise, our itinerary finds us sailing from Ephesus to Athens, Greece.  Our tour guide, a native of Greece, spoke eloquent English, much better than I ("reckon' that ain't too hard?")

One of the highlights of our recent vacation was the historic city of Istanbul, Turkey.

I was struck by the contrasting diversity of each port and country we visited.  After leaving Italy, the distinct style of this Greek Island was apparent from our first look. 


All the buildings are painted white; many with colorful trim.


As the cruise ship passengers descended upon this island, I’m sure the population multiplied.  Shopping opportunities abounded.


Now I understand all the talk about the beauty of the Greek Isles.

What an eerie experience to stroll back in time via the streets of Pompeii.  As a result of the deadly volcano's sudden eruption, this city became one of the most well-preserved sites of antiquity.

One of the treats of visiting Italy was getting to see some of the works of Michelangelo.

It seems that we are always following current events.  It was difficult to navigate Rome, as there was a very special bicycle race concluding in Rome on the very day we visited.  We even got to catch a glimpse of it as we visited the Vatican.

"Good things come to those who wait. . . "
"The third time's the charm. . ."

We tried to visit the Mediterranean for our 25th wedding anniversary.  Then 9-11 prevented the travel.
We tried a second time, to no avail.
As they say, the third time is the charm.

What an unbelievable trip!  Those of you who know me realize that cruising is my favorite form of vacation.  This trip was amazing.  Check out these ports of call:

Barcelona
Monte Carlo
Florence
Rome
Pompeii
Mykonos
Istanbul
Athens
Venice

I'll eventually post more photos.  By far, the most amazing cruise we have experienced to date.