A Random Occurence

Most of you know I like music. Perhaps like is not a strong enough word. Music is necessary to life. It is life. Sometimes I wish there was a way to take music intravenously.

That is what music is to me.

Because of this, there is always music playing in my van or in my house, (except when I am doing homework because I am one of those people who needs it to be quiet when I have to think.) and it is generally Christian music. When I am driving I cannot always find a Christian radio station, or the ones I can find are fuzzy (which I can’t stand) so I have a number of CD’s that are always in my van. That way I have a nice variety of music even without Christian radio.  I recently purchased several of the WOW Christians music CD’s because it is a nice mix of popular songs that I like sung by a variety of artists. My usual “MO” is when I find a song I like, it gets repeated several (okay—like 25—or more) times in a row. Since I like the song and I am usually by myself in the van, this works for me!

One of the songs on one of the WOW CD’s I bought is a song by Colton Dixon called “More of You.” I have listened to this song probably a couple of hundred times by now. Here are some of the lyrics:

Verse 1 –

I made my castle tall


I built up every wall


This is my kingdom and it needs to fall


I want you and no one else


Empty me of myself


Until the only thing that's left is



More of You


Less of me


Make me who I'm meant to be


You're all I want all I need


You're everything


Take it all

I surrender


Be my king
God I choose


More of You and

Less of me


I need more of you


More of you.

Verse 2 –

This life I hold so close


Oh, God I let it go


I refuse to gain the world and lose my soul


So take it all I abandon everything I am


You can have it


The only thing I need is…

I identify so strongly with the words of the song. I had built a fortress with very high walls to protect myself from being hurt; it was a hard reality to discover that the walls I had built to keep other people out also kept God out. And I know I could never be happy if I gained everything the world considers important and forfeited my relationship with God. So the words, the intro, and the overall rhythm and sound of the song—yeah, I love all of it! And when I listen to the song I have to have it…well…LOUD.  

Anyway, as I have driven around the last couple of days that song has been on repeat in my van. Yesterday on my way home from work I stopped and did some shopping.

I needed to go to Target for a few things, but then they didn’t have one of the things I needed, so I went to Lowe’s when I was done with Target because I knew they would have it. I had my music cranked, as always, as I parked in the Lowe’s parking lot.

 As I got out of my car, a lady across the parking lot said, “I love that song.”

I was startled and looked at her only to realize she was talking to me. I was surprised and said, “The song I was listening to? You heard that?” (Yes, not one of my brighter comments.)

She replied that yes she had heard the song and has not met very many people who listen to that type of music. So there in the Lowe’s parking lot and walking into the store, a random stranger and I had a talk about Christian music. I told her about the WOW CD’s I had purchased so I would always have good music available. She mentioned she likes Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons,” and Sidewalk Prophets.

I have never had anything like that happen to me before, but in those couple of minutes that we talked, the fatigue of my week—the fact that I was there to buy a plunger because one of my toilets was not flushing properly, my disastrous final project for my online class, and job concerns—all of those things faded into the background as we connected over music.

What seemed like a random event to me was not random at all, because with God there are no random events. It was a divinely orchestrated moment in the span of eternity—a moment where God connected two strangers who were able to encourage each other simply because we both love the same song. And the reality is, if I had not been BLASTING the music in my van, this other lady would have never heard the song.

I hope my music is not the only thing in my life that is loud; I hope I live my life LOUDLY, so other Christians know they are not alone.  And so non-Christians wonder why I am different. 

Here is a link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYXjXi8PtzQ