I can remember sitting in my room of the fraternity at UCLA as a college freshman. I was a new Christian. I was reading the Bible and it was like someone was sitting there talking to me. Up until then, my ‘story’ consisted of loving sports, playing guitar and being a good student so I could eventually get a good job. Then I became part of God’s story. The adventure was just beginning and it was exciting.
I grew up playing the guitar as recreation. Then it became truly re-creational. The creative Holy Spirit was renewing me through the creative act of making music. It was like going from black and white to full-color with surround-sound. A fourth dimension opened up. As I kid, I only wanted to play guitar. I wasn’t interested in singing. Then music became a vehicle for expressing adoration and being with a Person. I finally had a reason to sing. I was singing to a person. Through the gift of music, the Holy Spirit opened the eyes of my heart to see Jesus (John 15:26). The worship-life is all about knowing a Person.
My wife Linda describes her conversion: “Meeting Jesus was like coming to life; I was dead then I was alive; I was totally blind and not aware of being blind and suddenly I could see. Like a baby being born, moving from one world into another. I love singing about this transformation.”
In a sense, every time we worship God, we are re-living our conversion experience. We don’t always have a great epiphany, but when we reach for God’s kingdom that is near us, we touch heaven. For this reason, I try to worship through music at least a little bit everyday. I often don’t feel like doing it, but when I worship, I am always refreshed, even if only gently. I need to touch heaven everyday.