Sharing Our Headphones

by Tyler Zach

Do you ever stop to think about how powerful music is?

Well, I don’t that often. I’ve been going for a few months now not having purchased any new music to listen to while I’m meditating on the Word, praying, thinking, etc. I can think back to when I bought my first CD that really moved my soul in a spiritual way. I bought a new CD player/alarm clock just so I could wake up to it every morning. I felt awakened by the Spirit in a deep, rich way every morning during that fall semester in the fraternity house.

Then I fast-forward and think about the CD I bought when I first joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. During a challenging eight-month period of raising support, each morning I was awe-filled with wonder after putting my headphones on and reading God’s inspired Word.

About two weeks ago, I purchased another CD that has a way of clinging to my soul and not letting go. It has brought much thanksgiving out of my heart and praise off of my tongue.

Tonight I walked through the Hy-Vee grocery store and did something weird. I kept my iPod in my ears and listened to my new CD. It was a very unique experience. As I walked through the isles my heart was glad in God, but as I looked at the all the people passing me - I saw stress, busyness, blank stares, and in most cases, normalness. Just normal people doing their normal routine.

A few things happened. At first, I was shocked at the sense of perspective I had on life listening to praise music right there in the middle of the grocery store. It was like the heavens opened up and I was the only one who could hear what was going on. Then, there was a longing that crept up inside of me that made me want to tell the others what I was hearing.

Here’s the problem. Have you ever tried to explain your favorite song to someone? It’s just impossible. The only thing that comes out of our mouth usually is “It’s so awesome.” That’s it. That’s our best attempt at explaining something unexplainable.

I realized later that this is often how the spiritual life goes. We try to tell people about the greatness of God but it never comes out right. We either a) haven’t tuned our ears to the sweet enduring Kingdom music or b) we simply tell others that He’s “awesome” and then watch them nod politely and walk away.

So what can we do to explain God in a greater way? How can we make others more satisfied in Him? What can we say to draw others to the living God?

Well, I think we can start by sharing our headphones.