CCM Thursdays: Awesome God

Tomorrow:  Marilyn & Will are back, and I will tell the story of the night I met Batman!  Don't miss it!

As I was riding the 6:30 AM bus to my class last Wednesday morning, I found myself humming My Deliverer and really missing the late Rich Mullins.  Now it's not like Rich and I hung out or communicated on a regular basis, but he and his music did have a huge impact on my life and ministry.  Back in February he was featured in 3 consecutive posts on this blog, and there are links to them below:
Influences:  Rich Mullins   
 God's Own Fool   
 Alrightokuhhuhamen
A great deal of my passion for Rich's music and my respect and admiration for his life as a Christian are explained in those posts, along with the 10 other posts in which he is prominently mentioned.  I encourage you to check them all out- just use the "Labels" on the right side of this page and click Rich Mullins.

But today I simply want to remember Rich and his most famous song, Awesome God.  We sang the song at youth group (and sang it very well) in Kissimmee and in Tampa.  It will almost certainly show up here in a few weeks on my list of favorite youth group songs.  It was one of the first "contemporary" songs to be incorporated into traditional church services all over the country. It had the feel of a song that should always be sung by a multitude- preferably of "heavenly hosts."  Most Christians over the age of 25 (and many under) know the song, at least by its' chorus.  When Rich was asked about the song, however, he always wanted to talk about the verses.  He took his faith very seriously, and he wanted the church universal to understand that God was not to be trifled with.  He told me face to face during the week we spent together at Guilford College back in 1989 that to him the most important line of the song was, "I hope we have not too quickly forgotten that our God is an awesome God."   To Rich, this was not scary; it was empowering!  Those who follow and serve an awesome God, should (by extension) be capable of doing awesome things with God.  He certainly lived out that very thought.

I know that God has a plan for everything, but it frustrates me to no end that there will be no new Rich Mullins music for me to hear and sing.  He has been gone over 13 years, and yet not a day goes by that one of his songs doesn't somehow speak to me.  It amazes me, some 22 years after it was written, that quotes from Awesome God still appear on Facebook and Twitter, reminding us all of the God we serve.  The best way to do such a wonderful piece of music justice is to sing it- so let's do it!  I have put together a hastily assembled video, featuring pictures of Rich and his album covers, along with the words to the chorus.  Watch it.  Sing along.  Remember Rich Mullins.  And more importantly, remember that this awesome God created the universe, and yet still calls us each by name.  Now that is AWESOME...  So sing it like you mean it- and picture everyone who reads this blog singing along.  If we do that, I guarantee you that even the Angels with join in...  As David Crowder likes to say it's not about singing pretty; it's about singing LOUD!!!  So sing!