Tag: sunday music

“King of Pain” by The Police (1983)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 01 November 2020
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, Bohol, 2019.

I have lined up some songs with “heaven” in their titles or lyrics for this Sunday’s celebration of All Saints’ Day and tomorrow’s All Souls’ Day; but, during prayers and reflections, I kept on hearing Sting singing in my head King of Pain which is my most favorite among his long list of great music.

Our celebrations this November first and second are a mixture of joy and mourning, of heaven and sufferings, of life and death. As we remember today those already in heaven and tomorrow pray for those awaiting entrance into heaven, we also remember on these twin dates the death of loved ones.

No matter how much we may extoll the redemptive nature of death not as an end but a beginning of eternal life, we cannot miss the sadness and pain it brings to everyone that is always for a lifetime.

And that is what hope is all about: hope does not remove sadness or pain. When we hope of getting into heaven with our departed loved ones, no matter how blissful heaven may be, we always have to deal with the hurts of losing a parent or a spouse, a sibling or a friend.

To hope means to firmly believe that when things get worst, even unto death, there is Life itself, God remaining in the end, loving us, taking us to his presence in heaven to live life in its fullness in him.

To hope means to face new beginnings in this life amid the pains we have in our hearts from deaths and separations, believing that someday, if not in this life, everything would be whole and perfect again.

That is why I find King of Pain more apt for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.

Written by Sting in 1982 at the Goldeneye Estate in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote his first James Bond novels, King of Pain expresses the inner torments he was going through as an individual at that time — his recent divorce from his first wife and growing misunderstanding with his other two colleagues, Andrew Summers and Stewart Copeland. They eventually parted ways after the release of the Synchronicity album from which King of Pain came in 1983.

The beat, the music and the lyrics seem to be dark and melancholic at first but as you get the feel of the entire song sung by Sting, then you realize it is actually about a man struggling with sadness or even depression, of a man filled with hopes until you realize it is speaking about you as king of pain.

Aren’t we all the king of pain in one or the other?

And as we bear all the pains, we keep on forging on with life, we never resign but keep hoping even for a piece of heaven, of the sun to celebrate life each day until we make it to the Other Side like our departed loved ones.

All in the grace of a loving God. Amen.

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

“Alfie” by Dionne Warwick (1966)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music, 25 October 2020
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, Katmon Harbor Nature Sanctuary in Quezon, 2020.

Sorry for being away these past four weeks without any secular music inspiration for our Sunday gospels. Hoping to make up with you my dear Reader on this partly cloudy and warm Sunday with a classic song from a 1966 movie that starred Michael Caine, Alfie.

Written by the highly successful duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, sang and recorded for the said movie by their favorite interpreter Dionne Warwick, Alfie gives in its opening stanza the questions that create the drama of this 1966 film about a self-centered playboy who cared only for himself, using the people around him for his own gratification and satisfaction.

I have not seen the original 1966 film except its 2004 remake starring Jude Law that I find too “sleazy” that lacked what I suppose as the British “touch of class” and deep drama found in Caine’s starrer.

Nonetheless, we have chosen this song because of our Gospel this Sunday when a scholar of the law challenged Jesus with the question “which commandment in the law is the greatest”. Jesus answered the question so well by taking us all to the very foundation of all laws which is loving God with one’s total self expressed in loving others as we love our selves.

Here we find Jesus doing away with our legalisms that focus on the letters and individual laws and commandments, summing them all in love (https://lordmychef.com/2020/10/24/the-test-of-love/).

Jesus “passed the test” by the Pharisees and the question now is, how do we fare in the same test of love?

Do we love enough?

And that is why we have chosen the song Alfie that speaks so well of the same question.

There is a very interesting line in the song’s second stanza that relates perfectly well with Jesus Christ’s summary of the laws into love of God expressed in love of others:

And if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess it’s wise to be cruel
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on an old golden rule?
As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above, Alfie
I know there’s something much more
Something even non-believers can believe in

For years, many listeners including artists like Ms. Barbara Streissand have been baffled with the possible meaning of that line “What will you lend on an old golden rule?”; it has always been interpreted in so many ways despite Mr. David’s admission it meant nothing at all but just a line to fill in Mr. Bacharach’s music.

In that case, all the more we find how music is indeed more of the soul, touching our hearts with its deep meanings that transcends our physical world, giving us a glimpse of the Divine, of a personal and relating, loving God.

I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love we just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you’ve missed you’re nothing, Alfie
When you walk let your heart lead the way
And you’ll find love any day, Alfie
Alfie …

The problem with love, my dear Reader and Friend, too often our words are not enough to truly express it. Most often, when we love, we just have to love, love, and love!

A lovely and loving week to everyone!

Provided to YouTube by Rhino Alfie (2013 Remaster) · Dionne Warwick Playlist: The Best Of Dionne Warwick ℗ 1967 Scepter Records Producer: Burt Bacharach Producer: Hal David Writer: Burt Bacharach Writer: Hal David Auto-generated by YouTube.

“Coming Around Again” (1986) by Carly Simon

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 27 September 2020
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD, at Katmon Harbor Nature Sanctuary in Infanta, Quezon, March 2020.

It’s Ms. Carly Simon again in the house four weeks after featuring her 1972 classic “You’re So Vain” in August. This time we pick her 1986 hit single “Coming Around Again” she had written for the movie Heartburn starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.

Coming Around Again is an aptly titled work by Ms. Simon that kickstarted the resurgence of her career at that time with the song peaking at number 18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 5 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, not to mention the warm reception it had received from around the world.

We find this song suited well with our Sunday gospel on the parable by Jesus of a father who asked his two sons to work in his vineyard; the elder one refused but later changed mind and went to the vineyard while the younger son said yes without really going there. Jesus used the parable to drive his message that we shall all be judged by our actions, not by our words.

Most of all, Jesus narrated the parable to warn those who highly regard themselves as good and upright, looking down on others like sinners as less important. The Lord is asking us today to soften our hearts especially to those difficult to love, that we must constantly examine ourselves lest we fall into the trap that despite our being “clean” and upright, we could end up more evil than those we find as sinful (https://lordmychef.com/2020/09/26/soften-our-hearts-lord/).

Anyone who truly loves is always humble, willing to empty one’s self and go down for the sake of a loved one that is exactly opposite to the way of the world which is to be always on top as the most popular, the most powerful, the wealthiest.

I know nothing stays the same
But if you’re willing to play the game
It’s coming around again
So don’t mind if I fall apart
There’s more room in a broken heart
And I believe in love
But what else can I do
I’m so in love with you

To better appreciate this song is of course see Heartburn which is the semi-biographical account of its writer, the late Nora Ephron’s marriage to Watergate scandal investigative reporter Carl Bernstein.

Like Bernstein, Ephron was also a writer and a journalist before eventually becoming a filmmaker after Heartburn. She was nominated thrice for an Academy Award for Best Writing in three other films she wrote, Silkwood (1983), When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993).

Another lovely film to her credit is You’ve Got Mail that also starred Tom Hanks. Her last film was Julie & Julia (2009).

Looking back to the story of Heartburn and its soundtrack Coming Around Again, one finds in this woman’s path of self-emptying as perhaps the key to her success as a movie scriptwriter and a playwright.

A blessed Sunday to you!

Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment.

“Take A Look Inside My Heart” by David Benoit (1982)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 20 September 2020
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, MD at Infanta, Quezon, April 2020.

Lately I have been reflecting more about the heart courtesy of our daily scripture readings for the Masses these past two weeks. When you are “quarantined” in the past six months except for a few essential trips outside, such is a grace-filled moment of this pandemic that we are able to pray and reflect more about our lives and the people we love.

Last Sunday in our gospel, Jesus asked us to forgive from the heart because we are all brothers and sisters in God our Father who forgives us without limits for our many sins.

Today in our gospel, Jesus is asking us to give from the heart, that is, be generous because we are brothers and sisters in God our Father who blesses us abundantly with everything we need.

Generosity is from the heart where we find Jesus dwelling, giving us peace and joy amid the many pains and sufferings of this life because only him suffices that we are willing to let go of everything (https://lordmychef.com/2020/09/19/generosity-comes-from-the-heart/).

David Benoit’s lovely piece called “Take A Look Inside My Heart” from his 1982 album Stages offers us a unique perspective on this looking into our hearts to reflect on God’s love for us and how we share – or selfishly keep – that love with others.

Benoit is one of the most loved jazz artist in the country who performed more that twice in the past. His music is so natural and light, but intense in meaning yet so balanced as in “tamang timpla” or “tamang tama” that is not so slow and sad but not so fast and punky. Listen and see how his lyrics speaks from a loving heart.

It isn’t easy to show you what you mean to me
I’m not that kind with all the moves
The way I’m feeling goes beyond what you can see
I’m crazy ’bout you, crazy ’bout you
I haven’t tried to impress you by the things I do
That isn’t really how I am, hmmm…
I’d rather let my dreams be opened up to you
So you’ll understand, you’ll understand
Take a look inside my heart and you’ll see
I have so much love to give beLieve in me
Take a Look inside my heart share my Love
Take a Look in my heart… yeah…

Imagine God is David Benoit singing these words to you… And yes, like in the gospel, we sometimes complain to him at how he could let injustice continue despite our efforts to work hard and honest like those workers hired early in the parable by Jesus.

Nobody ever is perfect even if they try
There may be times I’ve let you down
But when I do I hope you’ll turn my heart around
By reachin’ inside, reachin’ inside
Take a look inside my heart and you’ll see
I have so much love to give beLieve in me
Take a Look inside my heart share my Love
Take a Look in my heart…

The song tells us of the immense love of the man to his loved one, assuring her of his faith and dedication that she need not worry when things are not going on as planned. Like Jesus telling us today in his parable to be more loving, more generous with his love for others for it is then that we truly experience inner joy and peace.

I wanna promise you honestly I’ll always care
That’s what my Love has come here for
And every time I smiLe you know there’s something more
I’m waiting to share, wanting to share
Take a look inside my heart and you’ll see
I have so much love to give beLieve in me
Take a Look inside my heart share my Love
Take a Look in my heart…

Have a blessed Sunday and week ahead.

And share a generous serving of God’s blessing especially to someone in need of his love.

Uploaded to YouTube by My70s80sjazzcorner, 18 April 2020.

“Every Kinda People” (1978) by Robert Palmer

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 13 September 2020
Entering through the narrow door of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, the Holy Land, May 2019.

Above is a photo I have taken of some pilgrims entering through the small door of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem last year. I have always loved the story why this entrance door is so small as it leads to a huge and very important church where the site of Jesus Christ’s birth is located.

According to tradition, pilgrims used to bring even their animals inside the church whenever they would come to worship at the site of the Lord’s birth. The priests and monks were so kind that they could not tell them to leave their horses outside to keep the church clean; and so, they built another entrance into the church with a door so small that even pilgrims have to bow in order to get inside.

Eventually, the small door taught everyone especially pilgrims the important lesson that to experience the coming of the Son of God to the world, one must learn to be humble, to bow or get low to get inside the Church of Nativity.

I know Christmas is still four months away but that is one reality we always forget, the we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. That is the meaning of Christ’s call in today’s gospel to “forgive from one’s heart” son we can forgive without limits because we are all brothers and sisters in God the Father who loves and forgives us all (https://lordmychef.com/2020/09/12/forgiving-from-the-heart-2/).

It is for this reason that we have chosen for our Sunday music “Every Kinda People” by the late English singer-songwriter Robert Palmer. It was his first top 40 hit released in 1978 that was rereleased in 1992 climbing the charts again for its beautiful music and superb lyrics that convey love and respect for every person.

Though the word forgiveness is nowhere to be found in the lyrics, it is implied because after all, the best expression of any love as shown to us by Jesus Christ is also the ability to forgive others and forego any revenge.

There’s no profit in deceit
Honest men know that
Revenge do not taste sweet
Whether yellow, black or white
Each and every man’s the same inside

What really hurts us most that we find it difficult to forgive those who have sinned against us is not only the injustice done to us but our being disrespected as a person who is a family like a spouse or a wife, a brother or a sister, a son or a daughter, a father or a mother, a kin or a friend, a confidant.

Our offenders thought only of themselves and forgot all about us, our love and kindness to them. Our oneness with them.

That is the unkindest cut of all, my brothers and sisters.

Have a blessed Sunday and a week ahead, keep loving and forgiving even if others do not. At least we remind them of that basic reality of every kinda people…

Music video by Robert Palmer performing Every Kinda People. (C) 1978 Universal Island Records Ltd. A Universal Music Company.

“Where Is the Love?” by The Black Eyed Peas (2003)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 06 September 2020
Photo by Dr. Mylene A. Santos, April 2020 at Infanta, Quezon.

The most severe test of our being Christian lies in our being able to love one another specially when it is so difficult to love them, when the one we love like a brother or a sister or a friend sins (https://lordmychef.com/2020/09/05/presence-and-love-of-christ/).

Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you… If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector… Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Matthew 18:15-16, 19-20

In our Sunday gospel today, Jesus is asking us to have love as basis of our relationships, whether at home or in the community, in the church or in the society. When there is love, there is Jesus, there is order, there is peace and harmony. Even when there is imperfection and sin, when love prevails, life and its struggles become bearable, even fulfilling. But when there is no love, there is always disorder and chaos and life becomes more difficult.

And that is why we go back to Black Eyed Peas’ 2003 hit “Where Is The Love?” for our Sunday music today which is very timely and relevant in this time of the pandemic.

People killin’ people dyin’
Children hurtin’, I hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preachin’?
Would you turn the other cheek again?
Mama, mama, mama, tell us what the hell is goin’ on
Can’t we all just get along?
Father, father, father help us
Send some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me
Questioning
(Where’s the love)

Of course, we all know our kababayan apl.de.ap is part of this group and one of the composers of this smash hit that was also the largest selling record of 2003, earning a nomination to the Grammy the following year for Record of the Year and Best Rap/Sung collaboration. From their third album Elephunk, “Where Is the Love?” gave Black Eyed Peas its first commercial success that also put them onto the mainstream music scene. Not mentioned at its single release was the back-up vocals rendered by Justin Timberlake who showed support to the group even though he was from another record label.

Very interesting is the last stanza which I just realized while reflecting on the song relating it to the gospel this Sunday: our problem is not really the corona virus but a disease within us when we refuse to accept and share that love freely given us by God.

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders
As I’m gettin’ older y’all people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin’
Selfishness got us followin’ the wrong direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinemas
What happened to the love and the values of humanity?
(Where’s the love)
What happened to the love and the fairness and equality?
(Where’s the love)
Instead of spreading love we’re spreading animosity
(Where’s the love)
Lack of understanding leading us away from unity
(Where’s the love)

Some people have been asking me this early how would Christmas 2020 be?

We need not read the news for we can feel and readily see around us the bleak prospects of this coming Christmas — financially and materially speaking. But I am filled with hope that Christmas 2020 amid the pandemic will most likely be one, if not the most meaningful Christmas we shall ever have because when we have less of the material things, that is also when we have more of the spiritual things in life, more of love, more of kindness, more of the person next to me, and most of all, more of Jesus. All we have to do is honestly answer the question, “where is the love?”

Have a blessed Sunday everyone!

Music video by Black Eyed Peas performing Where Is The Love?. (C) 2003 Interscope Geffen (A&M) Records A Division of UMG Recordings Inc.

“You’re so Vain” (1972) by Carly Simon

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 30 August 2020
Photo by STANLEY NGUMA on Pexels.com

Jesus in the gospel today makes his first prediction of his coming pasch or Passion, Death and Resurrection but it was such a terrible “bad news” for Peter that he

… took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” 

Matthew 16:22-23

With Jesus, there is no such thing as “good news, bad news” because all is good news with him. The good news/bad news question is really a non-question to disciples of Christ because whatever suffering we go through and embrace in him is a sharing in his very life. The key is to think as God does, not as a human beings do as Jesus told Peter (https://lordmychef.com/2020/08/29/when-good-news-bad-news-do-not-matter-at-all/).

And that means avoiding being so vain.

That is why we have Carly Simon singing to us this Sunday her 1972 classic “You’re so Vain” that have left our generation guessing who was she referring to in this superb music and poetry. (Personally, I think there is something “genetic” about this guessing game on whomever Ms. Simon was referring to: it was a non-issue among us males even when I have gone working in a radio station for six years. It has been the women who have kept on raising the issue on who could be that man so vain Ms. Simon was narrating in her number one song. And even if Ms. Simon had already identified him as Warren Beatty 40 years after, I still do not care because the song is so good, filled with gospel values too.)

How many times in our being so vain have we refused to embrace pain and sufferings in life, preferring noise than silence, and popularity than hiddenness that are some of the ways of God taught us by Jesus Christ?

Oh, you had me several years ago
When I was still quite naive
When you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me
I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain (you’re so vain)
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you?
Don’t you?
Don’t you?

About ten years ago, Al Pacino played the role of Satan in the movie “The Devil’s Advocate” where at the end after tempting the gullible small-town lawyer Keanu Reeves, he proclaimed “vanity… vanity is my most favorite sin.”

This Sunday, Jesus is telling us all is good news with him, no bad news and you can never lose in him. Just come to him with our true self, no matter how sinful and incomplete we are. A blessed week to everyone and happy listening!

Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Elektra

“Really Wanna Know You” (1981) by Gary Wright

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 23 August 2020
Photo by author, Gospel book (Evangelare), January 2020.

Jesus is asking us today in the gospel like his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, “who do you say that I am?” (Mt.16:15). As we have mentioned in our Sunday reflection, things we say of another person can come from two perspectives, the “what” and the “how”.

“What” we say of a person usually comes from common knowledge, the basics like name and address that sometimes not so reliable as we have not actually and personally known. But, to say of a person based on “how” we have known him/her is deeper because it comes from our personal relationship with some degree of intimacy (https://lordmychef.com/2020/08/22/it-is-not-what-we-say-who-jesus-is-but-how-we-say-who-he-is/).

To know another person is always to enter into a relationship that leads to a deeper friendship.

That is why for this Sunday we offer you this almost surreal, dream-like 1981 music by Gary Wright, “Really Wanna Know You” that spent 17 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100, reaching highest spot of #16.

Really Wanna Know You speaks of that spiritual thing we experience when we meet someone who seems so special, creating some sparks in us that leads us to something deeper than mere acquaintance. Notice how the sounds of electronic keyboards with the blending voices create that strange, beautiful, and out-of-ordinary feelings like attraction or simply being drawn to the other person.

I don't mind being lonely
But I do mind if not being loved
Maybe you're feeling the same way too
You're ready to hold some one

I really want to know you
I really want to show you the way I feel
I really want to know you
I really want to show you the way I feel

Something about you is telling me
We're coming from the very same place
It's only just a notion I have
(But) I see it written over your face

I really want to know you
I really want to show you the way I feel
I really want to know you
I really want to show you the way I feel

And the good news is that Jesus feels the same way to us, always the first to reach out to us because he feels something so special with each one of us.

Take that chance and meet Jesus in prayers, in the Scriptures, and in others who love and care for us.

Posted by Fernando Amora on Youtube, 24 Feb. 2012 (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-YLsPP2-Wb7tp4QdBq48MQ)

“Do It for Love” by Hall and Oates (2003)

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 16 August 2020
Our parish on a lazy afternoon before the pandemic in January 2020. Photo by Mr. Angelo Carpio.

Our Sunday gospel today is so touching at how great is the love of Jesus Christ for us who knows no boundaries when he “withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon” to heal the daughter of a Canaanite woman “tormented by a demon” (Mt.15:21, 28).

Two Sundays ago we heard how Jesus fed more than 5000 people who have followed him to a deserted place from just five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish; last week, he walked on water to rescue his disciples in a boat caught in a violent storm at the middle of the lake at night.

Very clear in all his actions is the immense love of Jesus Christ for everyone, doing everything in love and for love.

And that is why we have Rock n’ Roll’s dynamic duo, Daryl Hall and John Oates singing their eighth #1 hit released in 2003 “Do It For Love” from their sixteenth studio album of the same title.

I have always considered Hall and Oates as my topmost favorite musicians standing side by side with the equally great tandem of Walter Becker (+) and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan fame.

Smooth and sophisticated with their characteristic Phillysound, Hall and Oates’ Do It for Love tells of how a man would go to great lengths to express his love for his beloved.

I would fly ten thousand miles
In the pouring rain
Just to see your face

I’d bare my soul to a total stranger
Just to say your name
And I’m not ashamed
Just to love you into every morning

I would change my name
And run away
I won’t do it for money
I won’t do it for pride

I won’t do it to please somebody else
If it don’t feel right
But I’ll do it for you
And at least I’ll try

I don’t need any other reason
Than I feel it deep inside
I’ll Do It For Love

I have used it so many times in counseling single and married men having problems with their girlfriend and wife; and so far, it seems to have always worked with most of them still together and happily married!

Try it yourself this Sunday… with a lot of prayers and honest-to-goodness soul searching, miracles may still happen!

Stay safe and have a blessed new week!

From https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSRoN5Sxu5M-jc0JXt3E-xg

Two songs for a rainy Sunday in August 2020

The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 09 August 2020
Photo by Fr. Gener Garcia, “El camino de santiago de compostela” in Spain, 2019.

Don’t you feel it is like a Good Friday on this gloomy and rainy Sunday in August? Problems and trials continue to come our way this year 2020 that we are like the Apostles together in a boat in the middle of the sea caught in a violent storm at night with Jesus nowhere in sight!

But, we know the rest of the story, of how Jesus rescued the Twelve by walking on water, calmed the storm upon joining them in their boat until they reached the shore.

Sometimes in life, we need to get away from our “comfort zones” and cross to the other side of the lake or sea like in our gospel especially when life becomes so artificial that we need to experience it in its “rawness” from deep within our souls until we desire and meet God anew wherever we may be (https://lordmychef.com/2020/08/08/meeting-jesus/).

And because of the storms that continue to rage in us and among us in this ghost month of August, we offer you with inspiring songs from two lovely female artists that we hope will uplift you and soothe your tired body and soul.

First in our double header is Ms. Pauline Wilson’s 1997 solo version of their 1979 classic “Follow Your Road” when she was the lead singer of their Hawaii-based jazz fusion band called the Seawind.

So enticingly warm, Follow Your Road teems with a lot of Christian teachings that have strongly influenced Ms. Wilson and partners who are also into Gospel music. The song invites us to reflect on our lives in order to find its meaning and direction – exactly what Jesus has been telling us to follow him especially when we are into storms and darkness in our lives.

We are all but travelers living in a foreign land
Just trying to find our way – best as we can
Looking for an answer, trying to find some light
And though we have journeyed far, it’s not quite far enough.
Have you wondered where your road will lead you?
Maybe to a song that needs singing, or a summer rain
Or it might be you’re afraid to go, afraid to go
But you’ve got to follow your road, or you’ll never know
Uploaded by caddxprt, 17 September 2008.

Our second song on this rainy Sunday is from another Gospel singer Ms. Oleta Adams who was nominated to the Grammy Award as Best Female Pop Vocal Performance the following year after releasing “Get Here If You Can” in 1990.

Ms. Adams first caught the world’s attention in 1989 when she was invited by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears to join them as singer and pianist for their 1989 “Seeds of Love” album from which came the hit single “Woman in Chains” with her singing a duet with Orzabal.

Get Here If You Can is a song putting to the test the love and fidelity of the song’s lover.

Faith, like love, is always an encounter, especially with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The experience of Peter sinking in water as he approached Jesus is a lesson in being focused with our love and faith in Christ despite the heavy storms and darkness that come into our lives.

There are hills and mountains between us
Always something to get over
If I had my way, surely you would be closer
I need you closer

Stay safe and have a blessed new week!

Uploaded by Official Oleta Adams, 2004.