I’m driving a rental in L.A. It’s a Ford Focus, the cheapest thing I could find. Still has way more power than my Prius, so I still feel like I’m redlining every time I press the gas pedal. This Focus has Microsoft SYNC, which is supposed to make connections to smartphones via Bluetooth bulletproof, except my phone, for whatever reason, will not connect.
So I’ve been relegated to listening to the radio. After clicking through the channels, the one I found I liked the best was 95.9 FM, the Fish. I found myself liking just about every song from this station. It might be because many of them have these soaring melodies, almost Jim Steinmanian (that’s the guy who wrote those Meatloaf sagas, plus Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” etc.). And then the DJ came on, Delilah, and she was talking about such deep, meaningful things, about the difficulties of life, the elusiveness of salvation, how we can find ourselves in this confusing universe of ours. Wow, was this a cool station or what? So very different. Must be an L.A. thing.
And then came on a commercial about a movie I’d never heard before, War Room.
On the outside, Tony and Elizabeth Jordan seem to have it all—great jobs, a beautiful daughter and their dream home. But their appearances are deceiving: Tony relishes in his professional success and flirts with temptation, while Elizabeth resigns herself to increasing bitterness. Their marriage is on the verge of crumbling until their lives take an unexpected turn. When Elizabeth meets Miss Clara, she challenges Elizabeth to create a battle plan of prayer for her family by establishing a “war room.” This new film from the Kendrick brothers is a vivid reminder that prayer is powerful weapon.
The next song that came on was Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel,” and then I finally realized I’ve been listening to a Christian Rock station.
One strange thing about me is that I hardly ever listen to the lyrics of any song. If I like a song a lot, then I’ll eventually pick up on the lyrics, but even with those, it’s entirely possible I just learn the words on a pure sound level; i.e., my brain isn’t actually processing anything.
Even stranger? I’m still listening to the Fish. What can I say, I like the music.
