Happy birthday Jesus by Jerry Corelli

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53 and I'm tired!

November 19th and it's my birthday again.  This time I'm 53 years old.  It was around this time 40 years ago that I picked up a guitar for the first time and started teaching myself how to play the thing.

My goodness, that's me and that first guitar.  It was a "Kay" guitar.  I've never seen that brand since.  I was mostly all ears back then.  Anyway, I couldn't read music but could figure out where to place my fingers on the frets using a guitar chord chart.  In order to play something I had to find what chords sounded good together and then put words to it so I could play a song.  Now 336 songs later there are times I wish I had never picked up the guitar.

I've recorded 7 albums since 1980 and out of the 7 albums I either wrote or co-wrote about 80 or so.  Yet out of the 336 songs I've written so far about 200 of them are what I consider "Recordable".  Since I've recorded 80 or so, so far, I've got another 120 I'd like to record.  But that will never happen.  Fortunately most of my songs are at least recorded on some type of media like cassette or digital.  They aren't the finished product but at least they're recorded.  I can't read or write music so I record them after I write them so the style, melody line and chords are there others to know how they go.

A few years after learning the guitar I started teaching myself how to play the piano too.  But as time goes by it gets harder and harder to pick up the guitar or sit at the piano.  Music, for me, has lost the fun and excitement it once had.  It used to be that when I was writing a song I could envision people listening to it, either in an audience live performance setting or on their CD player.  Now when I sit down to write, which is few and far between, I wonder "How many people will NOT be listening to this song?".

When I first started writing it was to spread the message of "Jesus Christ".  It was a message I thought others needed to desperately hear.  Today you're hard pressed to find songs on the Radio that speak of how we need Christ's redeeming blood on the cross to save us from our sins.  Today it's la-la-la family friendly songs, what ever that means.  Actually it means let's not play Christian music about what Christ has done for mankind.  Let's play songs that people won't find "offensive" so we can get advertisers who want to sell their cars, or furniture or whatever.  

I once again turned on the radio to a local Christian station as I was driving to work last week and for the 40 minute drive I didn't hear the words Christ or Jesus at all.  I heard plenty of "Praise and Worship" songs that had the word "God", or perhaps "god" in them.  Mostly, to tell you the truth, if I didn't know I was actually listening to a "Christian" radio station I would have thought I was listening to a station other than a Christian station.

I stopped singing live and stopped writing because I was tired.  No one wants to hear songs about Christ's redemption and no one wants to book Christian artists who write and sing about Christ on the cross.  Every time I'd begin the booking process with a church or coffee house it was, "Do you sing Praise and Worship songs?"  

My family and I attend a wonderful church that has a "Worship team" and we sing Praise and Worship songs every Sunday.  For me that's great because we're all, or at least most of us attending, are Christians.  We know what and who we're singing about if the word Christ or Jesus isn't in the Worship song.  Plus, we hear the message of Christ crucified in the Sunday sermon so the Worship songs simply add to our worship experience.

But, for me and my out dated songwriting Christian songs need to have the message that we are sinners and need Christ in our lives.  Those songs need to be played on Christian radio and in every Christian coffee house, church and Christian concert venue where a "Christian Soloist or Band" is playing.  If not, then what's the purpose?  Are we suppose to just go around and sing songs for other Christians or songs that won't offend non-Christians?  

We're suppose to "Proclaim the Gospel" and to do that we have to "Proclaim the Law first and then the Gospel".  In other words the world needs to hear they are sinners and that the only hope is Christ.  

Now on my 53rd birthday I can at least say I gave it a shot.  My biggest problem has always been the politics of it all.  If a church or coffee house asked me to tone down the "You're going to hell if you don't accept Christ as your Savior" songs then I simply thanked them for the opportunity to sing for them but that due to a scheduling conflict I would have to decline.  That's about as politically correct as I could get it without saying, "Shame on you!"  Anyway, I had to finally just walk away from it all.  Little ol' me wasn't going to change things and I finally learned that after too many years.

I have one more album, or CD, in me to record.  It's mostly going to be a CD set of Favorite songs through the years with new ones as well.  I may even release it with a DVD.  Kind of a box set.  We'll probably sell enough to pay for the packaging and overall release and then that will be that.  I might title it "The Christian songs we don't listen to anymore because their about Christ".

Well if you read this whole thing I thank you for taking the time.  I plan on having a Great day today with my family and I Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the life he's given me through his Redeeming blood on the Cross.