One dark night...we did it!

It was late one night when my old roomie and I decided to do it.  It would start with several days of contemplating and making jokes about should we do it, should we not?  Then the night would come when we would make that journey down the stairs from our apartment in to the darkness of the night.  We would meet in the middle and turn our backs to each other and start walking in the opposite direction....then we started to run in opposite directions until the final pop occurred.  It was over! Anyone thinking of an old Western yet?  Well, we did not step off to start a gunfight.  We started a "tape war."  See it went something like this....

For years, I listened to music that filled my head with what/who I deserved, what emotions have to do with it, what color I should like (Black is really back now) and what adventures I should pursue.  I could quote lyrics to soft love songs all the way to hard rock.  I loved all music. What I found was I could quote you a lyric to any situation you faced and maybe even break out in song if the notion hit me just right.  Not all the music was bad but it all left lasting impressions on my mind. I am sure that is why I say huh so much today...some of that music was really loud!  

The point is once I became a Christian, I realized it wasn't all about me, my mind should not be focused on anything but Jesus 'cause He does have something to do with it, and the adventures would be plenty when He ordered my footsteps.  So I set out to clean my mind - Romans 12:2 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."  I desired to learn more about God's word than I knew about anything else.  

I wanted to live out Psalm 119:11- "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." So I set out to memorize scripture!  I was 18 years behind some people since I was 18 when I confessed Christ as my Savior.  I can no longer quote you the lyrics to any of those songs but I do have God's word hidden in my heart.  Today, His truth is what comes to my mind instead of those song lyrics. Now, I still have lots of song lyrics to spurt out but the kind playing on KLove not the 1980s station....and yes, I still break out in song at times but singing along with KLove or at least what I heard on KLove!

Again, I am not knocking all other music but I am saying what I desire to fill my heart and mind with are the things of the Lord.  I encourage you to remove anything that does not spur you on to good deeds.  Maybe it is not music for you but something else...

So back to the earlier story....we always did things with a little drama added in just for fun.  We started off in the middle of the parking lot.  One of us grabbed the cassette and the other grabbed a piece of the tape. We took off in two separate directions until pop---the tape came out!  Dozens of tapes later and lots of laughter, we dumped the trash where it belong...the "dipsy dumpster" as we called it.  So I challenge you to dump your trash today.  It will be freeing and may even give you a few good laughs!