HALLELUJAH

I was driving in the car yesterday with Jackson, Ella and Brenton and was listening to their conversation. "That's MY favorite song!" "NO, that's MY favorite song!" "MOM, can't it be both of our favorites??" "Yes, honey it can" The words to the song? "Even when the rain falls, even when the flood starts rising, even when the storm comes, I am washed by the water" My kids love to sing along to the music in our car. Number 1, I'm so thankful it's not Veggie Tales! Number 2, I'm so thankful that Christian music is what plays in our car. I know that as an adult, I cling to those songs sometimes. They comfort me when the words play and someone is singing a song that sounds like it was written just for me. I know that someone else knows what I'm feeling. I am not alone.

I have songs associated with each of my children for one reason or another... When I was pregnant with Caden there was a song that said, "I smile when I think about the way you turned my life around. I smile when I think about the happiness in you I found. I'm so amazed at what your love has done. When I think the best is yet to come... I smile." I would rub my tummy, knowing that our lives would never be the same once he arrived. Knowing that the best was yet to come. With Jackson, I had just found out I was pregnant. I had had a miscarriage the month before and was really afraid that I would lose this one too. I was driving home from the Dr. after getting a blood test to see if everything was okay and a song came on that said, "to hear you say that this one's mine, my heart is spoken for". Those words gave me a peace. I felt like God was saying, it's okay, this one is going to stick. Ella's song is more between her and her Daddy. It's by Steven Curtis Chapman and is called Cinderella. "So I'll dance with Cinderella while she is here in my arms. Cause I know something the prince never knew. Oh I will dance with my Cinderella, I don't want to miss even one song. Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight, and she'll be gone." Brenton's song is one that came on when I was in labor. Contractions were picking up and I was really starting to hurt. And then I heard the music, "everywhere I go I know you're not far away. You're right here. You're right here." God was there. He had made me so I could do this. I knew that I could get through the pain and soon Brenton would be in my arms. The point? Songs speak to us. God speaks to us through songs.

When we were driving home from Spokane a couple weeks ago we had been flipping through the stations, just thankful when music would come in that wasn't static. We found a station that was playing some old classics. All was good until the words, "pour some sugar on me". Okay, I know we all listened to that song when we were young. But seriously, do I really want my 12 year old to hear those lyrics? Do I want those words in my kids heads? Sure don't. You see, when we went camping with our church I could hear the kids riding their bikes down this rocky hill. As one went down, almost sounding like he was going a little fast for his liking, he yelled out "HALL-LE-LU-JAH!!!" Because our kids our exposed to words they should be and hopefully not too often to the ones they shouldn't they go around saying hallelujah instead of another choice phrase that could have been, "OH ....."

I'm thankful for the words that are being ingrained in their heads. I'm thankful that we are so blessed to be able to hear about God while driving down the road. That my kids can learn God's lessons and fight over who gets to like the song more. I pray that as they get older they continue to love these songs like Cory and I and that they will find the same comfort in them. And seriously, please let it be a long time before I have to explain what "pour some sugar on me" means!