Songs Hidden for Me

 

I am recording this so that future generations will also praise the Lord for all that he has done. And a people that shall be created shall praise the Lord. Psalm 102:18, TLB

 

                Every author has their own seasons when they write their best. Mine are fall and winter. These two seasons have been the best yet for me. I've put the finishing touches on Strong & Steadfast, my upcoming novel, and tweaked and trimmed the screenplay for it. The mad mix of creativity and Christmas cheer during this down time has made me loopy. I’m ready for a break, to do something else for a while.

            Every author also has their own way of seeking rest and getting re-inspired. I like to watch at least one movie every Friday either on DVD or Amazon Prime.

At the beginning of December, I saw Jesus Music. It was about the development of contemporary Christian music, or CCM. My earliest memories of this were of ‘80s Christian pop and rock bands. Their songs were on mainstream radio, their videos in heavy rotation on MTV. I passively heard “Love Will Find a Way” by Amy Grant because I wanted to be the “Material Girl” Madonna squeaked about. Moreover, I couldn’t wrap my mind around my classmate’s love for “First Love” by Petra, when my mix tape included “Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns and Roses.  

Yet in the ‘90s, I started listening more to CCM—including Petra. I went to New Life Books and Gifts, a local Christian bookstore in my hometown. As I bought Bible study guides, Janette Oke’s novels, and Jars of Clay’s debut CD, I got saved.

Jesus Music started with the Jesus Revolution revival, about Love Song. I’d immediately become a fan of theirs when I saw the awe-inspiring film about this revival. Their music sounded so simple yet deep.

Then they featured Larry Norman, the Father of Christian Rock.

I first saw his name when I was at the bookstore, around 1998. I looked through but didn’t buy a book about the top 100 Christian artists at that time. I read a brief bio of him and was fascinated and heartbroken. What did “Why Does the Devil Have All the Good Music?” sound like? He’d had a massive heart attack and was in rapidly declining health.

Could I have asked a sales associate to order some album of his? How could I think about this when the shelves and my music collection had tapes and CDs of Point of Grace, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Rebecca St. James? I also didn’t know anyone who was partial to ‘70s Jesus Music.

In the ten minutes the documentary dedicated to Larry, I learned so much more about him. Leave it to me to like his outrageous, unabashed lyrics about being fall-down drunk, over-sexed, and yellow-fingered from smoking—followed by a simple call to action to call out to Jesus. What went through hippies’ minds when they heard this? Did they fall to their knees and ask Jesus to be their Savior? Or did they take the needle off the record, toss the 33 1/3 across the room, then insert another needle in their arm?  

            My recollection of the book and my rising curiosity about this long blond-haired guy eased the tension when the CCM odometer rolled to the ‘80s and ‘90s. Tainted nostalgia as the featured artists spoke about divorces, drug abuse, and intra-band strife. Though jaded, I still got a brief chill when I saw a live clip of “Friends” by Michael W. Smith.

The next morning, I added many of Larry’s hits to my Amazon Music collection. One of them was “Why Does the Devil Have All the Good Music?”. I smiled. It’s so catchy, relevant, and entertaining. My favorite line is "Jesus is the Rock and He rolls my blues away."

I also have “The Outlaw,” “The Rock That Doesn’t Roll,” and “I Am the Six o’ Clock News.”

            Since my late-‘90s living inciting incident, Larry has passed away. I could wonder why I didn’t find out more about him then, but I won’t. His music was hidden for me, revealed at the right time.