The sound track of my life

Typically I'm not a gadget kind of a guy. I enjoy useful tools that help me navigate my world, but I don't tend to acquire technology just because it exists. In fact, the GPS Rebekah gave me for Christmas is probably the first time I've asked for something electronic just because I thought it would be fun to play with. It is!

But I've got to say I've fallen in love with my iPod. It's a great companion when I travel, and I take it with me on many of my long walks with Scout Labradoodle. I tend to alternate between listening to a podcast and enjoying an album or two or great music. Last night, for example, I listened to a message by author and Mars Hill pastor Rob Bell, then followed up with Steve Tyrell's classic big-band disk "A New Standard."

I'm still amazed at the sound quality I get via my $15 ear-phones and the fact that every album we own is at my fingertips. I also discovered - it was a beautiful evening yesterday and the windows to our house were all wide open - that I tend to sing along with a little more volume than I previously realized. Apparently Rebekah could hear me quite clearly, coming up the street crooning "I'm all broken-hearted 'cause I can't get started with you..."

I've been thinking about the sound-track of my life, and what music might best represent where I am and where I am going. There's a buoyancy to many of my selections at the moment, certainly indicative of my disposition; but I'm also aware that music has a way of helping set mood, so I find that sewing seeds of worship and hope and grace is something I can choose to do.

So I'm going to recommend a few (very recent) listening experiences that might help any one of us find our path into a mind-set of devotion and joy.

• Choral Masterpieces - particularly Bach's Mass in B minor
• Diamonds on the Inside - Ben Harper is brilliant
• Lifesong - Casting Crowns
• Worship - by Michael W. Smith
• Long Line of Leavers - Caedmon's Call
• Time - by Third Day
  
• Hymns to the Silence - Van Morrison's iconic double-album
• Beyond Nature and The Master & the Musician - Phil Keaggy
  

I'll share some of my favorite secular albums next, because I believe all creativity comes - in the long view - from God.

Good listening; redemptive listening; to all - DEREK