HIGHLIGHTING GOD's word through the power of music
A weekly inspirational song and message.
About Christian SOTW
Our Prayer
God speaks to us a number of ways...through His Word, through music, through other people. Christian SOTW is a Holy Spirit inspired weekly song and message. May it speak to you in your season or others you share with. God loves you and may this bless you each week.
The Servant Behind SOTW
He left the 99 for me!
My name is Kevin Brennan. Like many of us, I thought I was good person. I never saw the dirt and grime I wore every day in what I said, listened to, watched and how I lived my life. I knew religion, not relationship. It is true...we ALL fall short of the glory of God. I never realized how much I needed a Savior. That all changed when the Lord pursued me through my children, through music, through a devastating financial collapse my wife and I are still digging out of. He uses any means necessary to reach His beloved. I am thankful He never gave up on me. I have a relationship with Him now, that not only fills me, washes me clean, but has blessed my marriage and family in ways I can never fully describe. All I want to do now is bring glory to Him who is worthy of it all. Jesus gave His life for mine. A debt I can never repay. All I can do is pay it forward by bringing God's love to the lost, broken, to those who just don't know Him yet.
That is the heart behind SOTW.
The best way for me to describe my faith journey is through a literary description the Holy Spirit impressed on me to write years ago. I was drawn to Him by worship music. He took a person who lived his whole life bathed in sin, self-centeredness, ego, and pride...He still pursued me. He saved me.
SOTW is my love of Jesus, Christian music, and writing put together weekly to help others know God's love, encourage their faith, and share the Gospel in a unique way to bring light into this dark world.
May this story...my story...bless you:
"The music drew me in."
I am homeless wandering the streets, in grungy tattered clothes that smell, are soiled, and torn due to sleeping all those cold nights on the concrete sidewalks of life. I get shoved out of the way, ignored as people are coming and going, I beg for food to eat but mostly find scraps in the garbage bins outside of restaurants…I am constantly hungry and tired.
The only thing that stirs my heart is the quiet noise of music I hear if I really concentrate hard to listen to it as I am walking the streets. It is there every night. It always draws me closer to it. It comes from the same place.
I see the warm glow of light that spills through the large windowpane as it paints the sidewalk, all while the sound of laughter and singing leaks out into the chilled night air…there I stand… pressed up against the glass peering in…wondering what it would be like to be them, be inside that warm joyful place.
My trance is broken when I hear the doorman’s voice. He invites me in every time, but I can’t…I smell, I am repulsive…I would be thrown out by all the guests before I stepped an inch through the doorway. Everyone inside is beautifully dressed. The doorman tells me the Host doesn’t mind…but I do…even so he opens the door wider and says “come in”…it is then I smell the aroma of flowers, perfumes, colognes amid scents of incredible food from the banquet. It blankets me and I lose myself briefly in the beautiful mixture of it… then catch my own smell which snaps me back to my putrid reality…before the doorman can make another invitation attempt, I run away…across the street, down the alley, back into the darkness…it is there I am hidden from everyone, I feel almost secure…I can wallow in my own shame and disappointment without anyone looking on.
But I can still hear the music from that place…the sound usually doesn’t reach this far out…I curl up on the ground…listening to it…tears rolling down my face to the cracked asphalt where I lay my head. As I am drifting off, I am awakened by a gentle hand…it isn’t shoving me away to find another place to sleep, it isn’t the police, or someone trying to take something out of my pockets…no, this is different. I open my eyes and kneeling to my level are the most beautiful eyes looking back at me. They are lit up like fire, but not in a scary way. Not looking through me, but looking deep into me, into my heart. There is no judgement or condemnation, no recoil from my smell or appearance…He actually has a love in His eyes I haven’t seen in a long time. He helps me up. He tells me I am invited to His table. Now I recognize Him…He is the Host of that party I see every night…He came for me! I tell Him I can’t…I am not dressed properly and unclean. He tells me He loves me as I am and gives me the warmest embrace…something I haven’t felt since I was a child. Then He held out His hand and said, “Follow me”. I take His hand and start to walk with Him through the alley back to where the music is playing. Across the street I see it…that place I look at every night…the doorman, with a smile on his face, is now holding the door wide open. All the people I would see night in and out, are all there…just waiting for me.
As I step thru the doorway into the room, I am bathed in light…my soiled garments have disintegrated and I am dressed in the most beautiful white clothes…I am clean, and with a fragrance I can’t even describe. All the people are cheering me on, patting me on the back, hugging me and embracing me as their own. I feel nothing but love. I am shown a place at the table, right next to the Host. The table is littered with the choicest wines, meats, vegetables, and desserts. I am amazed.
I am beyond thankful to be invited to this celebration. I always wondered what it would be like to be in here…it is better than I could of ever expected…I don’t want this to end…I don’t want to go back outside to the cold, dark streets, in my grimy clothes, eating someone’s left over food…I will just enjoy this moment and worry about that at the end of the night.
I lean over to the Host and ask Him,” Who are we celebrating?” …I want to be polite and know who the guests of honor are in case I bump into them. He looked me in my eyes again with that deepness that went straight to my heart…He said “You! I have invited you every day, I waited expectedly for your arrival. I prepared your place at the table…and today, you finally came home.” “This is for you…this is all for you.”
“I don’t understand…why me? I am unclean, I am not worthy of this honor.”
He said, “I knew you from before you were born…you are mine. You got lost in this world, you ran after things that never satisfied until it took everything away from you. But I never gave up on you. This is your home…I am always here to provide for you… you always have a place at this table, a place to lay your head…you are forever my child…I love you.”
With tears in my eyes and joy in my heart, I fall to my knees…I thank Him, I praise Him, I sing…I am beyond grateful…I don’t deserve the grace I have been served, but He told me I am His…I am His child. He came after me and washed me clean. He called me home.
I love Him.
I will worship Him with all my heart and soul from now unto eternity…
This is my worship…