Summer break is over, and “The Cross and the Jukebox” is back. We’re back with something a little different in store. Typically, every week we look at something from what could be broadly defined as “roots music” of various sorts, but those of you who know me know that I refuse to be anything but eclectic.
I’ve written here before about what an influence the singer-songwriter Michael Card has had on my life and theology. In this week’s episode, Mike joins me in the studio to talk about the only song of his that I don’t like.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the song isn’t beautiful; it is. It’s not that it’s not lyrically brilliant; it is. It’s just that, as a father, I find it painful to listen to. A while back, I mentioned something of this in a sermon called “You Are Not Your Gift,” a lesson I’ve started learning from Michael. And, I’m afraid, I’ve still a long way to go. In that sermon, as in much of what I preach, I am the villain to be confronted, the criminal to be crucified.
Mike’s song is about his father, a doctor, who, as Mike put it, never really learned to separate who he was from what he did, himself from his gift. It’s a song about a good man who didn’t quite know how to love his son, and a son who didn’t quite know how to find his Dad.
I think in this conversation there are some good thought-provoking moments for fathers, and for those who have suffered in some way and are not sure how to get past all that now.
You are not your gift.