SouthernGospelBlog.com

“Serve the LORD with gladness: Come before His presence with singing.” (Psalm 100:2)

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in your richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16)

There are so many verses I could quote which mention singing but, as the Scriptures came to my mind this morning, I realized that singing is not a suggestion; it’s a command.

Battles have been won while people sang, folks have been encouraged, but most of all, God is glorified when His people lift their voices in song.

Praise is sometimes referred to as a sacrifice in Scripture, and I think singing is a sacrifice too at times but don’t we owe it to Him? I am thankful that, more often than not, God puts a song on my heart to sing. It’s at those times that the burdens feel lighter, the sky looks clearer, and His presence seems nearer. It’s those times when I want to praise Him with my whole heart because greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. Satan may want to bring depression, discouragement, and defeat but he can’t because I have a Father who loves me and who won’t let satan touch me. Now THAT is something to sing about!

SouthernGospelBlog.com hit 10,000 posts in style today, with the contest spurring over fifty comments just today. And we have winners!

• Grand Prize (#10,000): Tyler for this comment
• Gold Prize (#10,0001): J.C. Johnson for this comment
• Silver Prize (#10,005): Andrew Fountain for this comment
• Bronze Prize (#10,010): J.C. Johnson for this comment

Winners: Email your mailing addresses to us. And congratulations!

And to everyone who has commented over the last three years: Thank you for making this such an interesting and lively place to discuss what’s going on in the best genre out there!

We’re in the final stretch of the 10,000th Comment Contest. Less than 25 to go!

This site is nearing 10,000 comments. More precisely, we’re a little over 100 comments away. I mention this primarily because I had so much fun with the 3rd Anniversary concert that I thought this would be a fun excuse for another contest.

• Grand Prize (10,000th comment):
  • Liberty Quartet’s brand new CD The Journey—which hasn’t yet been reviewed here yet (but I can already tell you it will get 5 stars. It’s that good.)
  • Voices Won’s brand new CD Something For Everyone
  • Dixie Melody Boys Vintage (cassette – with Harold Reed, Devin McGlamery, Derrick Selph, and Ed O’Neal)
  • The Wilburns’ Where He Leads (cassette – with Loren Harris on lead)
  • The Greenes And The Walls Came Down Live with Orchestra (cassette)
• Gold Prize (10,001th comment)
  • Dixie Melody Boys Heading Home (cassette)
  • Paid in Full In All I Do (cassette)
• Silver Prize (10,005th comment)
  • The Wilburns Blessings (cassette)
• Bronze Prize (10,010th comment)
  • N’Harmony Keep On (cassette)

All titles are either sealed or played once before I realized they were duplicates.

A couple of rules:

1. If one of the prize-winning comments is made by one of the staff of this site (that’s a fancy term for Sony and me, who are volunteers!) or members of their immediate families, the next qualifying post will be the winner of that prize.
2. Inconsequential posts such as “Lol,” “Yeah,” “I agree,” or “great post” will not be counted. The next qualifying post will win. (Edit: If you post a number of identical posts on different threads, they will be counted as inconsequential posts!)

And if you’d like post suggestions, here are a couple of posts that didn’t get the attention they deserved:

• Publicity in a Post-Radio Genre
• A Conversation with Kim Collingsworth
• An Interview with David Ragan
• An Interview with Randy Byrd
• Blackwood Brothers Sign with Daywind
• Singer/Songwriters in Southern Gospel
• An Interview with Libbi Perry Stuffle
• I Buy a Dixie Echoes CD

And here are a few more that did spark interesting discussions:

• Re-branding Southern Gospel Music?
• What Should We Call Regional Groups?
• DVD Review: Nashville Homecoming

For those who have read my writings for a while, you may remember my struggle a year or so ago with accepting valleys as from the hand of God and determining to accept them if that’s what it takes to draw me closer to Him.

As I was praying this week, I’ve thought of how far God has brought me and how He continually shows me His goodness and gives me grace for each valley that I face. Sure, there are times I still end up in tears but I’m holding to His hand and I know He’s not going to let me sink to the depths. Somehow, He keeps me looking up and, when I do that, this valley doesn’t seem so large.

As I was praying the other day, I asked God that, when I’m on the mountain and I feel it start to crumble beneath me, if He would send angels to bear me up on their wings. I would love to be able to see the valley but to somehow stay above it and, with His grace, that’s how I would like to live. Sometimes it may be necessary to feel the pain of the valley to be able to better comfort others who are going through the same thing but I want to stay built up so I can encourage those people. Life may be hard but God is so good and I don’t ever want to communicate anything different.

I don’t yet have all the answers but I know everything is for a purpose and I want that purpose to be fulfilled. If it takes a valley in my life to draw others to Him, then I want to be willing to allow that. With Him carrying me I know I can.

I apologize for two question posts in a row, but it’s a slow news week in Southern Gospel so far. (But I can’t say that without anticipating it somehow becoming a self-defeating prophecy.) Jeff Foster does have a good post up on NQC Conduct, but there’s little to discuss in the way of news right now.

So let’s discuss a music-related question I’ve been puzzling over. I have quite a few “smart playlists” in iTunes. One day I might be inclined to listen to songs I’ve rated 5 stars, another day songs released in 2009, and another day songs penned by Dianne Wilkinson.

These smart playlists are constantly automatically refreshing. Do any iTunes geeks read this blog? If so, do you know if these slow the program down any significant amount?

Are the feature interviews I do for this site too long?

I realize that what comes out to eight or nine pages when formatted may be more than most people want to read on a regular basis.

And if they are too long, should I

• (a) Cut out some information and only stick to the highlights, or
• (b) serialize the interview, posting a segment once a week for four weeks?

UPDATE (9:37 PM): Thanks for your feedback. All at once it is! Every now and then, I try to give myself a reality check. Am I doing things the way I am because that’s the way I like it? because that’s the way I’ve always done it? or because that’s the way you like it? It’s nice when all three coincide!

I was sitting in Freedom Hall at the National Quartet Convention watching the Booth Brothers when Michael Booth began to sing “Look For Me at Jesus’ Feet.” I remember hearing Gary Sheppard sing that song years ago and I heard Michael sing it last year but this particular evening, I received a mental picture that I would like to share with you.

I picture myself in Heaven slowly strolling the streets, still somewhat dazed, wondering if I’m dreaming and not quite sure what to do with myself.

As I look up, I see Jesus up ahead, smiling at me as if maybe He is also wondering what I’m going to do once reality finally sinks in. As soon as my brain clears and I realize who He is, I run toward Him, throwing my arms around Him and clinging to Him in ecstasy. After a while, I let go and step back, looking into His face once more. The love pouring from His eyes is like none I’ve ever seen. Such an intensity that brings tears to mine.

He smiles as He says, “My beloved child, welcome Home.” He takes my hand and begins to walk back where He had come from. I don’t even think about where we’re headed; I’m just happy to be with Him. He leads me to His throne where He releases my hand and takes His rightful place. In awe, I sit at His feet staring up at Him in amazement that I’m finally there … in Heaven … with Jesus. Wow! Can this really be happening? Suddenly, all my worldly cares are forgotten for all I can see is His face!

I don’t notice the streets of gold; I don’t notice the walls of jasper; I don’t notice anything but Him and I am convinced that if I sit there looking at Him and listening to Him for all eternity, it would not be long enough.

Just for fun, since I don’t have anything more serious on my mind today, I thought I would post my most embarrassing NQC moment.

Apparently (as I hear) at the urging of Blackwood Brothers bass singer Randy Byrd, my fellow blogger Aaron Swain put together an impromptu Southern Gospel Bloggers Quartet. He sings bass; the other three of us (David Bruce Murray, Nate Stainbrook, and yours truly) sing baritone or lead. We had no tenor.

Well, I believe my comfortable range is the highest, but it just as certainly is not a natural tenor. But I foolishly agreed to sing tenor anyhow.

So we stumbled through a rendition of Boundless Love. I did especially poorly; remember …that I was singing tenor and I’m not one. Anyhow, it was bad enough that the person in the booth next to our home base (the SouthernGospelForums booth) peeked through the curtain to see what the racket was.

Brian Free.

The winner of this site’s Third Birthday Contest is in: It’s my fellow blogger Diana B., whose guess of 9,876 was 190 away from the correct total: This site has had 9,686 comments since its launch three years ago.

Rounding out the top 5:

• 2nd place: M Smith (286 away)
• 3rd place: Adam Wallace (314 away)
• 4th place: Nate Stainbrook (514 away)
• 5th place: Jeff Foster (814 away)

There have been 20,054 spam comments, too, which is why I made the contest specific to non-spam comments.

We’re getting closer to the 10,00o comment mark. Perhaps we should do another contest for that!