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The Best Laid Plans

A funny thing happened while I was busy working: Forty years went by. Four decades. The same number of years Moses and the Israelites wandered in the desert, for crying out loud. How did that happen? Oh, yeah – now I remember. Time doesn’t stop. For anybody…

Just last week, I was reminded of the relentless passage of time when I returned to my college alma mater to accept the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music from the Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies. (Believe it or not, they got all that on a plaque along with my name.) There’s nothing like being on your old college campus to be reminded just how not young you are. Interacting with the students, I couldn’t help but imagine them thinking, “How is this guy still kicking? He’s older than my dad!”

Accepting the award, I attempted to pass along a little wisdom to the students. I told them the crazy thing was this: I never set out to go into Christian music at all. In truth, I was hoping to work in the world of pop music. But life has a strange way of taking you places you never considered going. As my writing developed, I found myself penning songs for the Church because the Church was important to me.  And I wrote about Jesus because Jesus was important to me. Opportunities followed my efforts, and one day I turned around and I had a career in Christian music. And that was a good thing.

What’s more, several of my Baylor classmates worked in Christian music right alongside me all those years. Some continue to do so still today. “So be nice to your classmates,” I told the Baylor kids. “They might one day be your employer.”

Most of us have grand plans when we are young. Sometimes those plans work out. Sometimes they don’t. Mine didn’t. And like I said, that’s a good thing.

My thanks go out to Dr. Randall Bradley, his fellow faculty members, and all make the Alleluia conference happen. It was my honor and pleasure to be there.

 

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