heart mind and soul

Let me begin with a first (for me at least): a cat ran into my apartment this morning as I was on my way out to church. Spent a few minutes trying to chase it out. 100 points to anyone who can guess how I finally got him/her out.

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I was in seminary when I realized how much harder it was for me to preach and minister effectively when all I listened to was sports talk radio. Yes, I do get entertained by a good argument about one of my favorite teams, and I'm always down for a good interview with a coach, manager, or player. But the fact is once my mind locks into the world of sports, it gets harder and harder to care about anything else.

This, obviously, negatively affects my ability to know what God wants us to hear on a weekly basis. Case in point: I can tell you way more than I should about how Brett Favre was feeling yesterday (I'm a huge Minnesota Vikings fan).

Enter Christian radio.

Granted, Christian radio has its problems. Most Christian radio stations (like Spirit 105.3 here in Seattle) repeat the same songs way too much (and draw on playlists ten or more years old). Too many Christian radio stations appear to be driven by profit and pleasing their audiences rather than bringing glory to God in everything that they do. Christian radio seems to lull rather than challenge its audience. I can see these problems.

But, at least from my experience, what you put in to your mind and heart affects what comes out of you. It's so much easier to love when I hear songs about God's love. It's so much easier to worship when I hear people doing the same.

Have you thought about this?

In no way am I saying followers of Christ should only listen to Christian radio. Scripture is clear: we are NOT to segregate ourselves out of the world. But we should know ourselves well enough to know when it might be time to change the station.

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Interested in how I got the cat out? My basketball shoes. For some reason the cat was very afraid of my white high tops.