335---These Words

I love reading. Always have. When I was a kid, I escaped often to the English countryside with Enid Blyton's Famous Five. I climbed the Faraway Tree with Silky and Moonface. I clobbered roman soldiers next to Asterix and Obelix. None of this was my home-school curriculum. 

Mom taught me to read from the Bible. From the beginning these words were more magical to me than wands and wishes and wizards. 

I met Daniel as a hero in childhood, a man willing to preserve his friendship with God at cost of his own life. 

I felt sorry for Moses. He struggles with people, he struggles for them, they never really understand what it's costing him to lead them. 

I get excited about Joshua meeting the Captain, drawing sword in the presence of the most formidable of warriors, only to realize this is neither friend nor foe, but King beyond kingdom. 

I am shaped by the words in this book. As Ryan said this weekend, these words cut and divide. I'm reconstructed daily by their division. Didn't know I was a songwriter until I was 21. It happened in a moment of need. I needed a song and it came to me. And it came out of the book.  

I remember moments of epiphany when I realized my love of music and my love of these words need not exclude or even tolerate each other. These passions are of one and the same purpose. However it works, when I read these words, they turn into music inside of me. 

I'm a fair musician. I'd like to take lessons this year and learn some theory. But I'm really only a functional musician, adept enough to hack out a rhythm that real musicians can build on (Melinda insists I am a REAL musician). I think my gift is that these words filter through me with melodies attached. 

Another recent discovery is that I not only love reading, I love reading to people. In person or on the phone. I enjoy sharing words of power, words that summon mystery. 

Simple, unapparent words that leave hardly a trace going in, but rearrange once landed and leave always a mark of exit. It changes me when these words enter me; they change me more as they leave. To speak properly a word of power is to be transformed by it. 

I've really enjoyed reading to some of you on the phone. As I look toward the next part of the journey, I'll miss those moments. I'm going to read these words anyway. I'll record a chapter a day--listen in if you like. 

If you have a favorite chapter you would like me to read, let me know. If you have a photo you'd like to include in the podcast, send it along. Whatever passage you select, feel free to share what the words mean to you. 

For today's chapter (Psalm 1), click here.

Goodnight, Beautiful...

Goodnight, Strender