The Beatles, Adoption and Stevie Wonder
Does God speak through modern-day secular pop songs?
To begin, the reader should know that one of my favorite things in
this world is music. As early as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to
it like no other thing in nature. Listening to the right song at the
right time for me causes me to feel a bit of eternity. I know that
sounds strange, but that is how it feels.
Last year, as Rushton and I were discussing and praying about whether
we should pursue adoption, I was dragging my feet. I just didn’t have
a strong feeling one way or the other, but I knew full well the huge
implications for our family were we to do it. In early November, I
still didn’t have my answer, but I knew it was time me to get of the
proverbial pot, so I gave myself a deadline of December 15th.
The weekend before the 15th I was at the office working and had
finally decided to say yes. I was listening to music loudly and I put
on ‘The End’ by The Beatles. For those of you who don’t know the
song, it’s a short , 2 minute long song. Its mostly a long drum solo
with some guitar riffs, they sing ‘Love you’ 24 times and then close
with a 40 piece orchestra and sing the line "In the end the love you
take is equal to the love you make". It was essentially the Beatles
closing statement and is the last lyric on the last album they
recorded. Let It Be was the last album they released, but it was
recorded earlier. So as I was listening I got chills as it hit me,
that by adopting and extending love to some random child on the other
end of the world, we were experiencing the truth of which the Beatles
were singing.
I believe that God’s truths are absolute and pervade creation and his
creation’s creations, even secular things. Every once in a while they
peek out at you and if you are His, you know them when you see
them….Like this time.
I left the office further confirmed that we were making the right choice.
Fast-forward a couple months and I am driving my youngest, Henry, to
church and Stevie Wonder’s song, ‘As’ come on. It’s one of my
favorites of his and it’s a really long song that basically repeats
‘l’ll be loving you always’. It caught my ear as another adoption
song for me and as I listened to the lyrics, I was almost in tears.
Ok, I did cry, but don’t tell anyone.
Later I shared both songs with Rushton and due to the order of my
music on ITunes, the next song that came on was another Beatles song,
‘I Will’ and it’s a really sweet love song that we both agreed would
make a great soundtrack for an adoption video.
Fast-forward again to the evening of Monday the 29th of August. We
were expecting our first referral to come via email and stayed up
until 10:30. Nothing came so we decided to go to sleep. At around
11:30 Anne Rainey came in to wake Rushton up to go to the bathroom,
which she never does. Rushton checked the email again and low and
behold, there was a referral.
Bleary eyed, I looked at three pictures of this beautiful 9-month old
with huge eyes. I was hoping for a ‘cute’ child and she was that in
spades. We looked at her medical needs and it was an orthopedic issue
with her hip, a very fixable problem.
When you receive a referral, you have 48 hours to accept or decline.
Within that timeframe it’s typical to send the medical info and
pictures to your pediatrician, an international adoption doctor and
any other doctor friends you might have. You also do a bunch of
talking and praying.
The next morning I drove Rollins to school, dropped him off and then
started thinking about the choice we were making. I thought back to
those 3 songs that kept going around in my head and how they were
somehow connected to this process. I decided to listen to them again,
as maybe there was something in there for me to see. And then it hit
me right between the eyes. The name on the referral was ‘Song XXX
XXX’. Her first name was ‘Song’! Holy cow.
I played ‘The End’ again and heard the first lyrics of the song:
Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?
Weird, that’s what happened when we were woken up in the night to see
her for the first time.
I went to the office and printed out the lyrics to the 2 other songs:
I Will
Who knows how long I've loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime
If you want me to, I will.
For if I ever saw you
I didn't catch your name
But it never really mattered
I will always feel the same.
Love you forever and forever
Love you with all my heart
Love you whenever we're together
Love you when we're apart.
And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
For the things you do endear you to me
Oh, you know, I will
I will.
Funny, there is her name again. At this point I have goose bumps all
over my body.
Here is a portion from the Stevie Wonder song:
We all know sometimes life’s hates and troubles
Can make you wish you were born in another time and space
But you can bet you life times that and twice its double
That God knew exactly where he wanted you to be placed
so make sure when you say you're in it but not of it
You're not helping to make this earth a place sometimes called Hell
Change your words into truths and then change that truth into love
And maybe our children's grandchildren
And their great-great grandchildren will tell
I'll be loving you
Wow!!!!
I guess God thinks I am dense and needed 4 different things to show me
this is our girl. But just in case I needed one more, we got a friend
to translate her name and ‘XXX’, her given middle name, means
‘clarity’. Which was neat because that was the very thing we had been
praying to have as we approached our first referral.
I’ve told a few people about this story and one my good friends, Jay
Lloyd, described it as a ‘personal letter from God’ and that’s exactly
how it felt.
I believe that as you learn to listen to his spirit, your ear gets
more and more sensitive as you hear and then put into practice
whatever is being shown. I could have easily shrugged it all off as
some combination of weird causality, circumstance and desire on my
part. But I would have completely missed the gift.
I know we’ll have plenty of difficult times because of our decision,
but as my Mom said, it sure will make it easier going through them
when I am sure this is where God is taking us.
Thank you Lord Jesus.
Does God speak through modern-day secular pop songs?
To begin, the reader should know that one of my favorite things in
this world is music. As early as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to
it like no other thing in nature. Listening to the right song at the
right time for me causes me to feel a bit of eternity. I know that
sounds strange, but that is how it feels.
Last year, as Rushton and I were discussing and praying about whether
we should pursue adoption, I was dragging my feet. I just didn’t have
a strong feeling one way or the other, but I knew full well the huge
implications for our family were we to do it. In early November, I
still didn’t have my answer, but I knew it was time me to get of the
proverbial pot, so I gave myself a deadline of December 15th.
The weekend before the 15th I was at the office working and had
finally decided to say yes. I was listening to music loudly and I put
on ‘The End’ by The Beatles. For those of you who don’t know the
song, it’s a short , 2 minute long song. Its mostly a long drum solo
with some guitar riffs, they sing ‘Love you’ 24 times and then close
with a 40 piece orchestra and sing the line "In the end the love you
take is equal to the love you make". It was essentially the Beatles
closing statement and is the last lyric on the last album they
recorded. Let It Be was the last album they released, but it was
recorded earlier. So as I was listening I got chills as it hit me,
that by adopting and extending love to some random child on the other
end of the world, we were experiencing the truth of which the Beatles
were singing.
I believe that God’s truths are absolute and pervade creation and his
creation’s creations, even secular things. Every once in a while they
peek out at you and if you are His, you know them when you see
them….Like this time.
I left the office further confirmed that we were making the right choice.
Fast-forward a couple months and I am driving my youngest, Henry, to
church and Stevie Wonder’s song, ‘As’ come on. It’s one of my
favorites of his and it’s a really long song that basically repeats
‘l’ll be loving you always’. It caught my ear as another adoption
song for me and as I listened to the lyrics, I was almost in tears.
Ok, I did cry, but don’t tell anyone.
Later I shared both songs with Rushton and due to the order of my
music on ITunes, the next song that came on was another Beatles song,
‘I Will’ and it’s a really sweet love song that we both agreed would
make a great soundtrack for an adoption video.
Fast-forward again to the evening of Monday the 29th of August. We
were expecting our first referral to come via email and stayed up
until 10:30. Nothing came so we decided to go to sleep. At around
11:30 Anne Rainey came in to wake Rushton up to go to the bathroom,
which she never does. Rushton checked the email again and low and
behold, there was a referral.
Bleary eyed, I looked at three pictures of this beautiful 9-month old
with huge eyes. I was hoping for a ‘cute’ child and she was that in
spades. We looked at her medical needs and it was an orthopedic issue
with her hip, a very fixable problem.
When you receive a referral, you have 48 hours to accept or decline.
Within that timeframe it’s typical to send the medical info and
pictures to your pediatrician, an international adoption doctor and
any other doctor friends you might have. You also do a bunch of
talking and praying.
The next morning I drove Rollins to school, dropped him off and then
started thinking about the choice we were making. I thought back to
those 3 songs that kept going around in my head and how they were
somehow connected to this process. I decided to listen to them again,
as maybe there was something in there for me to see. And then it hit
me right between the eyes. The name on the referral was ‘Song XXX
XXX’. Her first name was ‘Song’! Holy cow.
I played ‘The End’ again and heard the first lyrics of the song:
Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?
Weird, that’s what happened when we were woken up in the night to see
her for the first time.
I went to the office and printed out the lyrics to the 2 other songs:
I Will
Who knows how long I've loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime
If you want me to, I will.
For if I ever saw you
I didn't catch your name
But it never really mattered
I will always feel the same.
Love you forever and forever
Love you with all my heart
Love you whenever we're together
Love you when we're apart.
And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
For the things you do endear you to me
Oh, you know, I will
I will.
Funny, there is her name again. At this point I have goose bumps all
over my body.
Here is a portion from the Stevie Wonder song:
We all know sometimes life’s hates and troubles
Can make you wish you were born in another time and space
But you can bet you life times that and twice its double
That God knew exactly where he wanted you to be placed
so make sure when you say you're in it but not of it
You're not helping to make this earth a place sometimes called Hell
Change your words into truths and then change that truth into love
And maybe our children's grandchildren
And their great-great grandchildren will tell
I'll be loving you
Wow!!!!
I guess God thinks I am dense and needed 4 different things to show me
this is our girl. But just in case I needed one more, we got a friend
to translate her name and ‘XXX’, her given middle name, means
‘clarity’. Which was neat because that was the very thing we had been
praying to have as we approached our first referral.
I’ve told a few people about this story and one my good friends, Jay
Lloyd, described it as a ‘personal letter from God’ and that’s exactly
how it felt.
I believe that as you learn to listen to his spirit, your ear gets
more and more sensitive as you hear and then put into practice
whatever is being shown. I could have easily shrugged it all off as
some combination of weird causality, circumstance and desire on my
part. But I would have completely missed the gift.
I know we’ll have plenty of difficult times because of our decision,
but as my Mom said, it sure will make it easier going through them
when I am sure this is where God is taking us.
Thank you Lord Jesus.
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