Music?   Me?   You Have Got To Be Kidding! About the first of January 2004, God put it deep into my heart to start learning how to play all of the popular worship songs on a guitar (these same songs that I had been listening to, and singing to myself for a few months now). This was very strange to me because I did not know how to play the guitar. I owned an old beat up guitar, but it had sat in the corner of my living room for about 18 years collecting dust. I never learned how to play more than a few simple chords, and I never had an interest in learning any more than that. I proceeded to find all of the music that I could for all of the popular worship songs. I was being obedient, and had no idea why God would ask this of me. I could not sing, and had no intention whatsoever of trying. I was not a singer, nor was I a musician by any stretch of the word. I had never sang in front of anyone, and was not about to start. I could not even begin to understand why God would want me to do this, but I was obedient to Him and did it with a joyful heart. I bought a new, fairly cheap guitar, and proceeded to learn how to play it (sort of). I then started learning how to play praise and worship songs. I would sit in my living room for hours and just play songs, and worship my Lord. If nothing else, it was the most beautiful worship times I have ever had with the Lord (up until that time). In May of 2004, I was sitting on my front porch thinking about how much I loved the Lord, and how much I appreciated all that He has done for me, and continues to do for me. I usually sing some praise and worship songs when I think about the Lord, and this time was no different. I was singing (silently, in my head) when suddenly the most beautiful song I had ever heard started playing in my head. I sat back for a minute or so and just listened. I had never heard this song before, and the music and the voices I heard were more beautiful than anything I had ever heard before in my life. The Lord then spoke to me and told me to get a pencil and paper and start writing this song down. I literally got a pencil out and started taking dictation. I did the best I could, but there was so much of the song that I did not remember, or didn’t quite get. The song began to play over and over again in my head. I wrote it all down, and then sat back and thought to myself  - “WOW!” Now what? I have all these words on a piece of paper, but that’s all I have. Then the melody began to play again in my head. I went in the house and got my guitar. I sat down and tried to figure out what chords would best match the song. After a while, I had managed to get a set of very simple chords pieced together. When I played the song, I could at least get the melody part right. I then proceeded to take the words and try to learn the song. This was the strangest experience I think I have ever gone through. I am not a musician, and I know nothing about music. I have no idea how to write down all this stuff, and I have no idea how to go about putting a song together. Before I knew it, I had a simple song in front of me. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was learning the song. I had a song in front of me, that I had just written down, and I was now having to learn it! I did not think things could get any stranger than that. Boy was I wrong!!! Over the next 21 days (3 weeks) the Lord gave me 17 more songs to go with the first one (for a total of 18 songs). They all came the same way. They would play in my head, and I would have to write it all down as fast, and as best as I could. The Lord would replay these songs a lot so that I could get all of the info down. Then, I would get out my guitar and start learning how to play the melodies. Imagine sitting in a room alone, in silence, and then someone enters the room with a small CD player/boombox. There is a set of headphones attached to the boombox, and the person sets the boombox down in front of you, puts the headphones on you, and then turns on the music. You are the only one that can hear this music, and it is music that you have never heard before. The songs that you are listening to are complete songs (words and music), but you have never heard them before. This is very similar to the way I was receiving these songs from the Lord. Only instead of a boombox and headphones, He was just playing the music in my head. It was getting tough to keep track of all of this, and I could not remember how the songs went. I also wanted some way of documenting these songs so that I could go back and listen, and learn them. Another reason I wanted to get them recorded some how was the fact that several people wanted me to play these songs for them. First of all, I was not about to sing in front of them, and second of all, I was sure I would get tired of singing these songs over and over again. It’s kind of like telling a story, and people walk in on the last part of it. They want you to start all over again for them. The Lord suggested that I get a small tape player out that I had way back in college, and start recording these songs as I learned how to play them. Then I could go back and listen to them again whenever I needed to. I did that for a few days, then I came across a computer program that records songs in a very simple format, using a very simple method. I literally hang a microphone from my ceiling, and hit the “Record Button”. The recorder picks up whatever sound is in the room, and records it. I play my guitar and sing the songs, and record them as I go. These are very basic, very simple, very crude recordings done in my living room/office area. But the recordings served their purpose. It Just Keeps Getting Better! One day, a lady approached me and handed me an envelope. She said that the Lord had instructed her to give me this envelope, and that I was to use its contents to get something that I needed, but would not buy on my own. She said I would know it when I came across it. I put the envelope away, and wondered what that was all about. A few days later, I was in a local electronics store. I went down an aisle that had keyboards and microphones. I stopped and looked at some cheap keyboards, and remembered that my sister had one. I knew that you could program some sounds into one of these keyboards, and make some background type music. I told my wife that I needed to call my sister when we got home and see if I could borrow her keyboard. When we got home, I called my sister, and sure enough she let me use her keyboard for a few days. I played around with it, and figured out how to program in some various sounds to produce a melody of sorts. It was a pretty cheap keyboard (as far as keyboards go), but it served its purpose well. A few days later, we were back in the electronics store, and I found myself back down that same keyboard aisle. I was looking for a keyboard that was as close to my sister’s as possible because she did not have an owner’s manual for hers. I wanted to look at one and get some information about how to use the keyboard. I saw some really nice keyboards, and started checking out all the fancy programs that each one had. I found one that I really thought would be neat to play with, and my wife said “Why don’t you get it”? I told her it was because that little bugger cost more money than we could spend on something like that (I was still unemployed). She opened up that envelope that had been given to us, and proceeded to pull out money. It was enough to buy the keyboard! The Lord let me know that it was going to become part of His plan for me, and that it would be part of the songs that He was giving me. Sure enough, many of the songs He has given me are played using the keyboard. Funny thing about all of it though, I did not then, nor do I now know how to play a keyboard. I have been looking for someone to give me lessons, but so far no one has been able to do so (for one reason or another). I figured out (with His help) how to program sounds, beats, and various chords to produce music. It is crude, but works well. Leave The Goodies Alone! Now the songs were starting to sound a lot better, but they were far from what I would call “quality”. I learned how to take the recordings on my computer and make CDs. It is a simple “burning” process, and takes little effort. I found that I could make copies of these songs in this manner and give them to my family and friends that were asking to hear these songs. The recordings are crude, but are enough to let them hear what the song sounds like. My disappointment in the whole ordeal was that the songs I hear in my head are absolutely beautiful and take your breath away. The music and the voices are far superior to anything I have ever heard from any professional artist. I would say they were  “angelic” in nature, and just so beautiful. All I had to offer when I recorded these songs was myself, my lack of ability to sing, my crude and basic guitar and keyboard playing, and a crude recording of the songs. I wanted people to hear what I hear in my head, but I had no way of getting it out the way I hear it. People just get to hear me, and not the beautiful music that I hear. I decided that I would go to a recording studio, use the “house band” and make these songs as professional and beautiful as I could. The Lord stopped me dead in my tracks and told me not to do that. He let me know that these songs were from Him, and that I needed to record them just like I had been, making copies of the CDs, and start handing them out to whomever wanted one. The power of the Holy Spirit is in these songs, and if I messed around with them, the power of the Holy Spirit would no longer be there. All that would be left is a simple man’s efforts to make music. The blessing would leave, and these songs would simply be nothing more than low quality, no talent, cheap recordings. There are already millions of these around, and adding to the bunch would make these songs disappear into the nothingness. “Freely You Have Been Given, Freely Give” I now make copies of these songs on my computer, burn CDs on my computer, and give them away (free of charge) to anybody that wants one. I made a simple CD cover and called the CD “Live From The Living Room” because that is where the recordings take place. I make no mention of myself, no pictures of me, or do anything that puts me in the spotlight. These are God’s songs, and He alone gets the credit. On each CD there is a very small copyright notation that has my name. This is there to protect the songs from people who might want to take these songs and try to make money off of them. I will allow anyone to use them, so long as they are not trying to use them to make money. So far, I have 38 songs, and they still keep coming. Now, the songs come a little differently than they used to. I get melodies, then words. Very rarely now do I get them both at the same time. Sometimes I get two or three at the same time, and I have to sort them out. It’s kind of like doing a puzzle. I have to fit the words with the melodies, and make the songs. I still just take dictation though, and after I get it all written out, I have to learn the song just like everyone else. Isn’t God wonderful!!!!!