Inside the mind of Mark Lowry - May 2008 ramblings

May 27, 2008

GVB: 'I Bowed On My Knees'
I found this old gem on YouTube of the Gaither Vocal Band with Michael English, Bill Gaither, Terry Franklin and me. Watch here.

Oh My! It's Guy Penrod
...a long time ago when he was a student at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. The name of the quartet was Men Of Liberty. Click here to watch.

The Happy Goodman Family (1968)
When I was around 11 years of age, I heard The Happy Goodman Family for the first time. Sam, Howard (at the piano), Rusty and Sister Vestal (with her hanky, hair-do and black-beaded gown). This was when they were in their prime! And here's The Lighthouse, Goodmans with J. D. Sumner, God Walks The Dark Hills, Wouldn't Take Nothin' For My Journey Now, The Eastern Gate, Lookin' For A City, Vestal & George Jones and He's Coming Again.

Gospel Music Channel
Here is a news piece the Gospel Music Channel did on my 50th birthday celebration at Spring Fling. The piece will premiere in the Kitchen Sink show at 8 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday, May 31st. After that, it will air outside the show for a couple of weeks.

May 26, 2008

Happy Memorial Day
I hope you're having a wonderful time with your family and friends on this Memorial Day 2008. For your viewing pleasure, here is a little video I made while we were in Bentonville, AR, a few months ago.

May 22, 2008

Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter dies
I am so sad to hear that Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter, Maria, was killed in an accident at their home. Please keep Steven and his entire family in your prayers.

May 21, 2008

ADHD Radio: featuring the Rambos & Sisters
On this edition of ADHD Radio, we honor Dottie Rambo and play music by the Singing Rambos and Sisters.

Songs include: The Rambos: Mama's Teaching Angels How To Sing. Me, Kim Lord & Amber Franks: I Call Him Lord. The Rambos: Sheltered In The Arms of God. Sisters (Kim, Heather & Valerie): God Did It & Under His Wings.

To listen, click here.

May 20, 2008

Dottie's Funeral
Yesterday was Dottie Rambo's funeral. The church was completely full. I sat in the choir loft with many other singers. In the audience were many more. It was a wonderful home-going for a dear lady who was the 'Fanny Crosby' of the 21st century. Her songs are classics and will live on just like Fanny Crosby's Blessed Assurance.

I am so honored to have known Dottie Rambo. She will be missed. Please keep all of those who were also in the bus accident and are still in the hospital, in your prayers.

More on Dottie: here • here • here • here • here

May 13, 2008

Dottie Rambo Funeral Arrangements

Monday, May 19, 1:00 PM
Dottie Rambo Home-going Celebration service
Christ Church
Nashville, TN

The service is open to the public.

Donations in Dottie's memory may be made to the
Dottie Rambo Memorial Fund
P. O. Box 50508
Nashville, TN 37205.

May 11, 2008

Remembering the Singing Rambos
My favorite Gospel group ever. Buck, Dottie and Reba: The Singing Rambos.

Dottie Rambo killed in bus wreck

I awoke to find that Dottie Rambo had been killed at 4 this morning near Springfield, MO, when her bus went into a ditch. I talked with Buck and Reba (her daughter) and they heard there were 50 mph winds that the officer believes blew the bus into the ditch. Dottie was sleeping in the back lounge when the accident occurred. When I hear about funeral arrangements, I'll let you know. Please keep Reba, family and friends in your prayers.

May 10, 2008

The Shack and Future Tripping
Well, I finally finished The Shack by William P. Young. The first five chapters are very hard to read. Very painful. But somewhere around chapter 6, Dorothy lands in Oz and everything becomes technicolor. I really love this book. It confirmed for me a lot of things I've been learning about God.

So, after reading The Shack, I wanted to know if William P. Young had a Web site. I googled his name and found it. Then, I found his blog. I've read everything he's written on his blog. I wish he'd write more. My favorite article, the one that helped me the most, is called 'Future Tripping and The Presence of Joy'.

To whet your appetite, here are a couple of paragraphs that spoke directly to me.

Future Tripping And The Presence of Joy
by William P. Young

An excerpt:
"A couple of years ago, I decided to stop ‘future tripping’. ‘Future Tripping’ is ‘taking thought for tomorrow’, it is creating imaginations of what is going to happen and then actually take a mental and emotional trip to live there for a bit. It is ‘what am I going to do if _________ (fill in the blank), what am I going to say if __________, what would our family go through if _____________. I confess to you that I have experienced many un-realities and their attendant emotions this way. I have repeatedly suffered huge financial losses, ended up living under one of the city bridges, been abandoned by my family, suffered the loss of each of my children, had my closest friends turn out to be villains, embarrassed myself in public, was put on the spot and said something stupid, been to my own funeral (more than once), unsuccessfully tried to stop something horrible from happening, failed repeatedly to live up to somebody’s expectations, been horribly maimed in every kind of imaginable accident known to man, lost all my teeth, lost every job I ever had, came down with every disease possible, regularly looked like an idiot, got my lights punched out for no reason, explained my driving to a police officer, lost my friends, went to school and found out I wasn’t wearing anything, got mugged, imagined the situation that I currently was in was permanent…that nothing could ever or would ever change…

…you get the idea. I have written volumes of imaginations in my own head, things that have no substance, no reality, and are empty, vain imaginations. But I treat them as if they are real. I feel all kinds of terrifying and horrible emotions, and scramble to control my life so that these imaginations won’t actually come to pass. THESE IMAGINATIONS ARE NOT REAL!!!! But I had spent most of my life in or around them. GOD DOES NOT DWELL IN ANYTHING THAT IS NOT REAL!!! In these imaginations, Papa is conspicuously absent. Why? Because Papa has no interest in living inside something that isn’t even real to begin with. So in my ‘vain’ empty imaginations, I am the only ‘god’ there is..."

Click here to read the entire article. And here's another good one: The Need For 'Control'.

May 3, 2008

My dogs

My dogs: Bo, Stanley and Mollie Grace

I'm going on a cruise!

May 1, 2008

The Shack
I am only on page 149 but, already, I want there to be a sequel. Part 2, please!

Gloria Gaither handed this book, The Shack, to me while I was staying in their home. I read up to the murder of the little girl and couldn't read any more. I put the book down, lost it and, a few weeks later, felt compelled to go to Lifeway in Nashville and buy another copy.

Now, I can't put it down.

I stumbled into grace on a tour bus reading The Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll. It was a landmark I look back to where my life changed.

I have a feeling this book is going to be another one. You really need to read it.