Mark Bishop
Singing News Article
November 2007
The fact of the matter is this. If
you are reading this article in this magazine at this moment, you
are blessed in ways that many, many other people are not.
Let me tell you why you, and I, are blessed above others and why
we should be thankful during this month of November. November
being the month of Thanksgiving, of course.
For one, you are obviously blessed with enough eyesight to read.
Which also makes you alive, another blessing. If you are without
sight and someone has to read this to you, then you are blessed
with a friend who cares.
Your fingers must work. You obviously were able to turn the pages
to get to this one. You are also not in a coma, always a good
thing in my opinion.
Those are very obvious reasons of course and even though they are
blessings, it is easy to take them for granted. Let's face it,
lots of people can see and are not in comas. Many people can also
use their fingers to flip through the pages of a magazine. Ah, but
yes... you are turning the pages of a magazine about Gospel Music
and this reveals a whole other layer of blessing not available to
the normal magazine page-flipper.
You are most certainly a fan and listener of Gospel Music. That
is, you enjoy music about the Gospel. Why else would you be
reading a magazine about it? What does that say about you to me?
It says to me that you have figured out this puzzle called life.
It tells me that you most likely go to church, believe in prayer
and believe that someone is listening on the other end. It tells
me that you try to treat others as you would have them treat you.
It tells me that you believe in faith, hope and charity. These are
things that have improved the quality of your life. It tells me
that you are blessed. You are blessed above those who do not have
these things.
There are many people who have not realized what you have already
figured out. There are countless scores of people out there who
want to live a "rock and roll" life but they will want a Gospel
song played at their funeral.
Gospel Music listeners are folks who have come to the conclusion
that, if it's important at the end of your life, it might be
important in the middle too.
So that puts you ahead of the pack in a very real sense. The fact
that you are here, with us, says that you believe God is in
control. It says that you always have a friend that you can rely
on... that you have a shoulder to cry on, a place where your weary
mind can find rest. Again, you are among the blessed.
As I travel around and meet so many wonderful Christian people in
so many different places, I feel especially blessed that I am
nearly always surrounded by believers. I share my music ministry
in one town and fellowship with God's people and then again
somewhere else the next night, with another crowd of enthusiastic
believers. God has an army of beautiful souls across this country
and like the old USO tours, I get to travel around and rally the
troops!
This Thanksgiving season, many folks will celebrate the holiday
with a large meal... maybe a football game or a parade. Some folks
will say their only prayer of the year around the dinner table.
They may say "Thank you Lord for blessing us." It might even be
true that they have many nice things... that they are healthy.
They are blessed.
But not like you are.
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