A Higher Revelation: Pt. 1

Ludwig von Beethoven once said, "Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." Perhaps he seems a little brasch and naive for making this kind of statement, but in his world this was a reality.

In my world, I have also found music to be of great significance. I started becoming particularly interested in music after a short stint of karate when I was 6. (My mother claims it was to boost my self-esteem). Being tired of sensis and boxing matches, I turned to the guitar as a past-time.

As I learned the guitar, I began listening to "grown-up" music. Up until this point, my musical repetoire was limited to Psalty the Singing Song Book and The Donut Man. Soon, however, I was listening to Christian pop/rock groups like dc Talk and Audio Adrenaline. At this point in my life, I was just glad to be listening to this new "rock" music, and I think my parents must have been happy that I was satisfied with Christian groups.

In middle school, I discovered "classic rock," an even further deviation from the Donut Man. Some of the bands I listened to included The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zepplin, and AC/DC. I loved the sounds that these bands produced, and the groups became semi-iconic for me. I would wear t-shirts with their names on them, doodle their symbols on folders during class, and talk about them with my friends. The thing about this type of music was that, as I listened to it, I was not really led to anything but the musicians themselves. Whereas the majority of the music was free from vulgarity, it was not leading me to anything deeper, like some of the Christian groups I listened to may have done.

And then I came across a musician named Keith Green.

Keith Green was a piano-playing singer/songwriter who was extremely popular in the eighties in the Christian community. I became attracted to his music partly due to his excellent musicianship and partly due to his radical zeal for Christ. I read a book about his life called No Compromise, and was amazed at how he conducted himself as a Christian. I listened constantly to old LPs my mom had, and I also listened to the four-disc set I got for my birthday. I memorized the lyrics, I attempted to plunk out some of his songs on the piano, and I tried to adopt just a little bit of his passion.

Listening to his music literally signaled a change in my life. I went from being a potty-mouthed little teenager to someone who fell in love with Jesus Christ.