Unto The Lord

For months, as my head hit the pillow each night, I would have the thought "I love you, Lord", words I had read many times at the beginning of Psalm 18. It was during a period of time when I wasn't feeling any particular kind of love at all. And yet, the thought persisted. "I love you, Lord." I continued to wait for the feeling to match the words. The psalm goes on with words I could easily relate to, "my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my shield" - sentiments I truly felt. O Lord, You Are My Rock conveys them all. Perhaps the day will come when I can sing with conviction "I love you, Lord". That may seem odd coming from someone with a growing collection of worship songs. What I feel seems like a faint whisper to whatever it is I'm waiting for. Compared to God's love for us, I suppose our love for him would seem like a faint whisper.

There was a chorus I began hearing, "I will sing, sing a new song. I will sing, sing a new song." It seemed like a good start to a new song... until I discovered U2 had a song with the same words! Yet, the chorus kept coming to me, along with a great big gospel voice singing overtop, "He is Marvelous..." It was the voice of Jimmy Lee Howard - an accomplished drummer, songwriter, and "big gospel voice". He ministers through his music wherever opportunity brings him. I knew him from my time at MUSICNL in St. John's, NL.

Jimmy Lee likely has no shortage of material to sing, but it would be cool to hear him do his thing with Unto The Lord, the song that eventually evolved from its U2 beginning. What do you say Jimmy Lee? And no, I don't want to sing back-up in your choir. He's always recruiting. Here's a YouTube taste of Jimmy Lee Howard... and those are my friends Margaret and Donna Squires in red, singing back-up! There's also a nice glimpse of some of the other great musicians I once knew in St. John's.

Feeling a little homesick now.

E.