Bunk Beds & Wooden Pews

I was at work yesterday afternoon, the 2 o'clock fog swirling through my mind as I stared at the computer screen.  And through the fog, I heard it.

A remembrance of times long past, wafting out of the radio.

Elton John was singing "Your Song"

In a fraction of a second I traveled back 45 years to find myself again in an unfamiliar college dorm room.  An hour before, my folks had dropped me off with hugs and kisses.  They were on their way back home to Iowa, leaving me - an almost 18-year-old newbie college freshman - in Illinois.

I remember sitting on the bottom bunk, staring out the window as the cars drove by on the Tri-State Toll Way.  And I remember that I very much wished I was in one of 'em,, heading home like they seemed to be doing.

Unpacking a year's worth of stuff helped me find the nightstand radio.  Plugging it in, I fiddled with the dial and found that familiar Top 40 sound that flowed through the late '60's and would spill over into the early 70's.

I resumed my vigil by the window.  And that's when Mr. John sat down next to me and sang his song.  And then James Taylor sat down on the bunk and sang "Fire & Rain".

Yeah.  Music makes us remember.

My dad, toward the end of his life, liked to play the sounds of the Big Bands, the '40s.

Remembering when he and the other young lions fought in the Pacific.

Back when the world heard them roar.

The church service this week was like that.  Well, kinda.  The words were those I remembered hearing while seated on hardwood, unpadded, non-air-conditioned pews. However the modern Christian praise tune put to the words was unknown to my ears...which made singing pretty much impossible.

It's kinda like having two different songs playing at the same time and trying to sing along.  That's even tough for us who sing monotone.

But the words took me back.  I remembered.

And praise, I think, is being thankful for something remembered.

Thanking the One who made the memories, who has loved me - and you - since Time began.

So even if I don't know the tune - even if I don't know the song - I can still praise Him.

Because I remember...