Stories and Spontaneous Rant

So I went to Performance Forum, and come to find out we have academic advising, aka juniors/senior-get-out-of-class-early-because-they’ve-done-this-enough-times-to-know-what-to-do! So the church music majors are sitting in the room, waiting for the “academic advisor” (he’s just one of the professors. He used to be in charge of the church music majors but then someone took over, but then that person left, so now we don’t quite have anyone) and as we get permission from the TA to leave, the professor comes in and tells us to stay because he has something exciting for us.
Yea. Like I’m really excited to stay in class for a little bit longer, right?
So we’re all sitting, pretty impatiently, when he walks in with a campus pastor and two other men who I’ve never seen before.
It turns out that these two men are kind of a big deal, which isn’t that surprising, because let’s face it, it’s APU, and we’re in southern California (not like I’m bragging or anything….oh….well…ok, I am!). They are record producers.
They are worship music producers.
They are British.
They are my new best friends.
And instantly my impatience goes away.
John (the head guy) told us about kinds of things they look for in song writing. He said ultimately they look for songs for the church, songs YOU write for YOUR church, and even writing for congregations for the year 2024.
He shared a story of when he was in the Amazon sharing with a local community, where he didn’t know their language and vice versa. They spent the whole time without verbal communication.
Yet as they were leaving, they heard the community singing “Heart of Worship” in their own language. He had no idea how they had come to know that song, but it’s amazing how a song can find it’s way almost anywhere.
The second story he shared was about an Indian woman who became a midwife. She was a Christian, and made it a point to ALWAYS pray for the women and the children about to be born, and by the grace of God, she never lost a woman or a child.
Not one.
How amazing is that?
When asked about her faith, she shared that she had never read a Christian book, never grew up in a church, never even owned a Bible, yet she DID know a worship song. One song. That’s it. And that song gave her faith everyday.
How incredible is that?
Unfortunately John didn’t know what the song was, but still….I was shocked. It affirms my faith in the power of music, and not just music, but worship music.
I know nowadays there is a lot of bad music out there, or even worse: mediocre music. Music that floats past that is only good, not great.
Let me point out an example: the corny “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs. Ugh.
Ok, there are songs that are great, but sometimes….ugh. They just get under my skin. What about the cross? What about His grace? Jesus isn’t for our comfort, Jesus is for our souls.
Ok. End of rant.
It shows that there are songs out there that can push a person through life and continue giving them faith everyday.

This is random, and I apologize, but my thoughts are rather scattered, and….well, my birthday is in 20 minutes and I’m watching Princess and the Frog and sitting on my couch with my Sleeping Beauty crown on.
I’m gonna go celebrate now. :)