Reflecting upon one's life during the Lenten season can serve as a profound exercise in self-examination and spiritual growth. In today's discourse, I, Joshua Noel, present an introspective exploration of twelve pivotal inflection points in my life, each accompanied by a piece of music that resonates with those moments. These selections are not necessarily my favorites, nor are they the most cherished songs; rather, they signify moments of transformation that have indelibly shaped my identity. As I recount these experiences, I invite you, the listener, to engage in your own reflective practice, considering the significant events in your life and the melodies that have accompanied them. This episode aims to cultivate a sense of community through shared reflections and the universal language of music, encouraging all to embark on their own journeys of introspection.

The latest installment of our podcast embarks on a deeply personal journey, led by Joshua Noel, who, during this Lenten season, delves into the pivotal inflection points that have shaped his identity. Joshua articulates a reflection of twelve significant events in his life, each intricately associated with specific songs that resonate with those moments. Unlike conventional favorites, these selections serve as markers for transformative experiences, illuminating the intersection of music and memory. As Joshua recounts these moments, he invites listeners to engage in their own reflections, considering how music has accompanied their life’s milestones. Through this exploration, we are reminded of the profound role that music plays in our lives, not merely as a backdrop but as a catalyst for introspection and growth. The episode fosters a communal atmosphere, inviting listeners to share their own narratives and the melodies that accompany them, thereby strengthening the bonds of our shared human experience.

Moreover, the episode unfolds with a candid vulnerability, as Joshua recounts moments of joy, sorrow, and personal growth, demonstrating how music can encapsulate the essence of our most significant life experiences. His narrative underscores a fundamental truth: that music is not just entertainment, but a powerful medium through which we can navigate our existence and connect with one another. As we journey through these inflection points together, we are encouraged to embrace our own stories and the soundtracks that define them, creating a tapestry of shared experiences that resonate with each listener in a uniquely personal way.

Takeaways:

• Joshua Noel reflects upon twelve pivotal moments in his life during this episode.
• Each inflection point is accompanied by a song that holds personal significance for him.
• Listeners are encouraged to contemplate their own life-changing moments and related music.
• The episode serves as an invitation to engage in personal reflection during the season of Lent.

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Songs that were sampled in this episode:

1. Getting into You, by Relient K
2. Days of Elijah, by Robin Mark
3. You & I, by Ingrid Michaelson
4. Beautiful Things, by Gungor
5. All the Little Lights, by Passenger
6. Life's for the Living, by Passenger
7. No Longer Slaves, by Bethel Music
8. Sweet Tennessee, by Judah and the Lion
9. We'll Meet Again, by Johnny Cash
10. Believe, by Mumford & Sons
11. Hearts Don't Break Around Here, by Ed Sheeran
12. Dial Drunk, by Noah Kahn
13. When We All Get to Heaven, by Casting Crowns

Mentioned in this episode:

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Welcome to Some Joyful Noises, a music podcast with no rhyme, rhythm, or reason. I'm Joshua Null, excited to be doing this one. This is just like the Anazzow podcast dumping ground.

So anytime someone in the Anaz ISL Podcast network, you know, any of our leaders from other shows have, like a music idea, we just jump in here and record something and we send an invitation to you guys listening. If you guys want to record your own episode, email us. There is no host to this show. We just kind of do stuff without any rhyme, rhythm, or reason.

We just kind of record stuff, you know. And today, this is almost like a personal journal for me.

Currently in the season of Lent, my first time actually participating in Lent, joined Lutheran Church over a year ago. I could have done it last year. Didn't feel like it. This year I'm like, you know what? I'm going to try it. I started light.

Give up Monsters or just all energy drinks. I already had to do an open and close at work once, and it was difficult.

But I'm doing that chosen suffering thing that Brandon Knight's been talking about on my seminary life. Check that out for Fish Fridays during the season. It's been great. He has some great content over there.

I really recommend that for anyone listening who likes the network. Today, though, part of Lent is kind of reflecting on my own limitations, my own mortality.

And for some reason, when I've been thinking about that in this season, I've been going over some of the big turning points in my life, like what I call the inflection points of my life personally. And I think that's probably a good practice for any of us. So maybe hearing me talk about it will help you guys think some, too.

And when I think about it, a lot of the major turning points in my life, I, in my head or spirit, whatever, I've tied to specific songs or albums. Not all Christian. Some are Christian, some aren't. So I wanted to go over and these aren't, you know, my favorite songs.

These aren't, like, the most meaningful to me. These are just some that I have tied to some of the big moments in my life.

So I'm going to go over 12 inflection points or 12 songs that are tied to inflection points in my personal life. Really? Probably like 13 or 14. I'm going to cheat, but we're going to say 12, because that's a nice number, right?

But these are moments in my life where I was changed forever. Who I am as a person is different after this moment. And he These songs are attached to those moments for me personally.

So when I hear them even today, I kind of am forced to reflect on them. And that's why I've been doing a lot of reflecting in this season.

I think music can serve as a good reminder for where we've been, how far we've come. So this is one.

Again, it's mostly for me, but hopefully this will help you think of some of your own inflection points to look back and meditate on your own life as well. And that's why music's important, right? Like, this is something I'm able to share with you guys through music, something personal to me.

And we're able to form community through music in a variety of ways. And this is just one of the ways we're able to do that.

So we're going to share what different songs have meant to us at different points in our life and reflect and share with one another our lives and to be part of one another's lives. And I know this is open to the Internet, so I'm being really vulnerable here, but, you know, it's fine. I'm a podcaster. I'm used to it.

So, again, guys, remember, subscribe to the show. There's no schedule. You have no idea when an episode's gonna come out unless you're subscribed. So you get the little notification.

So hit the little bell. Hit, subscribe, hit wherever you're at.

So you get notifications when we release stuff, since there's no schedule, that'll help you know when we have episodes. Also, rate and review. Apple, Podcast, Spotify, Podchaser, GoodPods, wherever you're listening, hit, rate, review. It just takes a few seconds.

It helps the show out a lot. We need people to be aware of the show since we don't have a schedule.

There's not like an easy way to grow momentum other than you guys just helping us out with it. Another way to do that, sharing. You can share it on your own social media if you want, but. And that does help.

I think it helps more than when you do it personally.

If you find someone that you know that trusts you and you share it, you know, they're more likely to click on that and listen to it if they're shared personally. So, again, we really appreciate all that. I wanted to plug one song, that one podcast I listened to recently that I really loved.

Again, back to that season of Lent, Brandon Knight. He's been doing those Fish Fridays I mentioned on my seminary life recently for recording this. Recently, he did the episode of the Prayer of St.

Patrick the Friday before St. Patrick's Day. And man, that was such a good episode. It reminded me of why music means so much to me.

Because he was talking about the song that Reliant Sorry Ren collective did on St. Patrick's Prayer. And it's just got that folky vibe. And you know, I'm all about folk, so I heard that.

And he's got me excited about Wrinklet going back to folk. Make Ren folk again, all that stuff he was talking about. I'm like, oh, hell yeah. I love folk music. So I'm all about it.

Guys, I am so excited for this. So as we get into the main stuff here, I'm just gonna get what I mean by inflection points. Again, not my favorite songs. These aren't the.

The most meaningful to me. They song Simple Song by Passenger, Home by Passenger. Those are probably the most meaningful to me personally.

But those aren't the songs I'm going to be sharing. They're not like the ones that mean the most to me. They're not my favorite songs.

These are just songs that I've tied to specific moments in my life that are important to me because of the moments they're tied to. More so than even just what the song says or how good the song is or anything like that.

It's just because of the moment it's tied to why it's so important to me. Some of them I enjoy also, and some of them are my favorite songs, but it's not why I'm sharing the songs that I'm sharing today.

And sticking with having no rhyme, rhythm of reason. I have clips I'm going to be sampling for this episode. Looks like all of them are like, mid song.

I don't know if it's because I was listening to them or if I have a specific part of the song I wanted to play. So when I share them, I really don't remember what part of sharing. I thought about checking it and making sure it was all right.

And then I was like, hey, the whole point of this is having no rhyme, rhythm, or reason. First one, I have no reason for this one. A memory that's like, you know, if you.

If you watch Inside out, there's like core memories that make who you are and like, you know, different part. Inside Out's good movie. That's all.

But one of my core memories, if you know what I'm talking about, is when I first started learning guitar again, I'm. I don't know guitar. I'M terrible. I have successfully played only one song and it's what I'm about to play for you.

And it's not meaningful because, like, oh, I did it because I remember playing it for, you know, I had a particular taste in music growing up. The almost Reliant K, Switch Foot kind of that alternative or alternative rock, Christian music.

Because I was only allowed to listen to Christian music. So I was pretty limited in the range of what I was able to listen to. I didn't discover how much I loved folk until much later in life.

Well, later in life compared to where I am now. Hopefully I'm not that much later in my own life. Hopefully I have many years ago, but we'll see.

But yeah, early on, especially high school, middle school, I loved the kind of alternative Christian styles of music. And my parents never really cared for it. They weren't really that interested. I think they wanted me to learn more the CCM music that they loved.

And I think I tried some of those. It was just difficult for me because I never quite figured out chords. I can't explain to you. I figured out notes fine.

You know, I was actually pretty good at trumpet at one point, but I never figured out chords for some reason. But I was able to play decently. The song Getting into youo by Reliant K, which for me back then and even today is still one of those worship songs.

I like the words and everything, it does mean a lot to me. But the moment I'm tying it to was when my granny heard me play that. And I know she only likes.

She basically listened to old hymns, she liked Johnny Cash, she liked Dolly Parton, you know, older music. And I didn't expect her to really care. And my Grammy is the most caring, loving person, is always proud of everybody all the time.

Like, she was great and I miss her dearly. Now this song for me is tied to that moment where my granny was like, that was really sweet, really great.

And she really loved it and listened to the. She wanted me to play the song on the radio too. She's like, oh, you did really good with that. And she enjoyed the song too.

Weirdly enough, when I think back on my granny who passed a few years ago, so many things come to mind and I love her dearly. I miss her dearly. This song is really one of those things. That moment for me, I don't know why. I couldn't pinpoint exactly why.

It wasn't particularly huge event, but I know something in me was touched by that. So this again, it's a big inflection moment in my life. Even if it makes no sense, has no rhyme or rhythm to it or reason, it is.

So I'm going to play a little bit of that song for you guys here now.

When he looked at me and said, I kind of view you as a sun. And for one second our eyes met. And I met that with the question, do you know what you are getting yourself into?

I'm getting into you because you got to me in a way.

Yeah, it's just a beautiful song of how God reached out to us first. And I'm getting into God because he got into me first. And there's a spiritual thing. And yeah, it sounds like a love song.

I know it was kind of cheesy and maybe it shouldn't be a song that means a lot to me that I love. But that moment with my granny was important to me. So that song still has a special part in my heart. All right, next moment.

This was also old Christian hymn crazy. You know, maybe it's not a great song. I don't think I actually, this is not one of my favorite songs. But I remember my dad was preaching Sunday.

He was a part time evangelist and we were in Virginia. I think it's probably one of the churches my granny attended. It was a smaller church. It was the first time, you know, I grew up Pentecostal.

This was the first time I remember we didn't actually have a message. My dad prepares all these messages. He goes and he preaches them. But this time he went up, they played this song. These are the days of Elijah. Right?

Because it's an older church. So I played this hymn. And at the end, my dad got up and he said, hold up, let me explain something.

And my dad explained in the course, it talks about the year of jubilee. This is the year of jubilee. Talks about what jubilee is. What it means is freedom. And what Christ is saying to all of us is, you can be free indeed.

You know, my life verse is Galatians 5:1. Let's say life verse.

My favorite verse, I don't know, whatever you want to call it, it doesn't matter to me, says it is for freedom that Christ set us free. So you are free indeed. You are free indeed. It's for freedom. Christ set us free. Like that's the big line in there for me.

That was, wow, it's just for freedom's sake. Like, Christ just cares about our freedom. And I think like that passion for freedom came from this moment. My dad preaching where he stopped.

He's like, you know what? Throwing out my sermon, we're gonna play this song again. But before I played again. Here's what jubilee is. Every 50 years, everyone was set free.

All this leaves doesn't matter how much you owed, how much debt you were in. And as an adult, I'm like, what? Right? Like, you're set free. That's what Jubilee means. It's about freedom. And he had him play this song again.

Everybody flooded the altars and were praying, and there was this deep spiritual movement of God. And something sat in me like, wow. Freedom of war.

And I think that was the first part time I've ever seen someone use their knowledge or intellect to explain something, and it makes something more meaningful, more spiritual. There's so many reasons. I think that moment really changed me.

But again, maybe it's not the best song, but it's one that I've tied to this inflection moment in my own life. So I want to play a little bit of it here for you guys. Play a little, you guys.

And we are riding on the clouds Shining like sun at the trumpet call.

Yeah, man, I don't know. Something. And plus, it's just so. It's an exciting sounding song, right? Like, I think so. And I'm like, wow, freedom. Yeah.

Christ has come so that we can be free. Indeed. It's for freedom's sake that Christ set us free.

And again, like, just seeing that, understanding one word, reshape that old song to me and for so many other people napping, that spiritual big moment in my life. Okay, next one, we're gonna get out of Christian music for a little bit again, a little bit weird. One of my favorite places is Cumberland Island.

I go camping there a lot. First time I've gone so many times, I don't even know what time was what I remember.

I've gone with my best friend tj, who does a lot of other podcasts on the South Podcast Network. One of the songs we listened to was yous and I by Ingrid Michelson. I also went with one of my other best friends once we played that. We also.

There's a lot of songs attached to Cumberland island for me, because for me, this place, it's like a sacred place. I don't know. Something in my spirit is aroused by that place. Going to Cumberland island has changed my life.

Part of who I am, like, my identity somewhat is wrapped up in that place because of what it means to me. And just, like, the wildlife, the nature, the ocean, and just kind of seeing what nature has to Offer without human impact. And I really.

I don't know how to explain unless you have gone to a place that has a special meaning in your heart, that in that same way, that spiritual meaning. I don't know if I can explain it, but something about Cumberland is special to me in a way that words just don't suffice to explain.

I've shared it with many people, my wife included. Me and my wife both love this place. It's special to her, too, which is great. One of the songs attached to it is the Jurassic park theme.

I didn't want to play that here, but, like, every time you go, someone's always like, man, this place is just like Jurassic Park. Everyone thinks it looks like Jurassic Park.

But one of the other songs, you and I by Ingrid Michelson, that's kind of the song I have attached to several moments at Cumberland Island. And since that place is a moment that's really changed me, I'm including this as one of my inflection points.

So I'm going to share a little bit of that song. You and I by Ingrid Michaels.

Parents homes in the south of France let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance this carriage and build a house on a mountain making everybody. But it looked like ants from way up there. You and I, you and I. Yeah.

Great song. I still. I think that one's just a good song.

It is just a song I really love, but even out just being a song I love, man, all these memories I have of me and TJ or me and my other best friend walking around the beaches of Cumberland island. And especially, especially some of the moments with me, my wife and me and TJ where we definitely did not have alcohol on the island.

And if we did, it wasn't rum. Had this thing like rum and monsters, energy drinking. It's like white monster Malibu. Great combination and a little bit buzz.

We're drinking on the beach, walking down, enjoying the beauty of God. Just having a moment of pure relaxation, pure ecstasy. And we're belting out this song together.

We got like a little speaker on my backpack, you know, backpacking on the island, on the beach. DJ and artist, let's get rich. And, like, just belting the song. I won't sing for you guys because, like, I have a terrible singing V.

But that moment of pure joy. And just remember, like. Like, for me, joy is such an important thing because, like, God is in those moments, you know, reading C.S.

lewis is surprised by joy. Like, those moments God intended for us. To have that kind of experience of ecstasy. I'm saying the word wrong, forgive me, but that's.

That's just pure joy. That's, like, deeper than just happiness. I have that attached to these moments, and I know that remember.

Even thinking back on that, just reflecting on it reminds me, like, there's more to this life than getting things right, making good podcasts, helping people. Like, there's more than all of it. There's these moments of just joy where you can just be in that moment. Man, I need to go back to Cumberland Island.

That's what I'm learning from this. All right, so let's go on to the next big inflection point for me. Another probably kind of a weird one.

I had a moment where I went out when I was at college at uncw. I went up to the beach by myself. Probably had a fight with my girlfriend. We had a lot of fights. It was a toxic relationship.

I just remember being alone, kind of being sat on the beach. And I think it was, like, right when I first started figuring out what Spotify is, or maybe it was Pandora.

It was something different times, but on one of the radios, listening to the kinds of music I like. And I never heard of Gungor back then, but the song played Beautiful Things by Gungor. I made you. I was in this really sad place. I was alone.

It was probably. I think. I don't know if it was the middle of the night, but I know it was dark and the moon was up, so I'm gonna call it the middle of the night.

But I did many walks at, like, 2am on the beach, so it's possible that it was literally like 2am but I'm on Wrightsville beach for those who know the North Khana area. Walking up and down this song plays. I could feel my soul changing, like, my outlook in life. This is so weird.

I just remember this, and nothing big happened. It was just like all of a sudden, I went from, like, thinking, we're all sinners, we're all made evil. Everything's bad.

And I heard the song going, but what if God made everything beautiful? What if it's not all sad and doom and gloom? So just that moment, alone on the beach, hearing the song for the first time, something in me changed.

So this, again is a big inflection point for me.

You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of the dust. You make beautiful things. You make beautiful things out of us.

Yeah, those words still speak to me despite, you know, I know a lot of things have happened In Gangor, a lot of people in conservative or progressive society, they have different thoughts about them. And, you know, there are a lot of arguments, whatever. I don't care about any of that.

But that song, to me in that moment, it's still today, just thinking like God did. He took dust, he took nothingness out of the darkness. God created the heavens and the earth out of dust. He created me.

Like he creates beautiful things out of nothing. I believe in creation ex nihilos out of nothing. I believe that he took the dirt, breathed into it. And we have human.

Like, life is beautiful because God made it beautiful.

And, you know, we talk about the impact of sin, all that other stuff, but I think sometimes it's just good to remember that God makes beautiful things. And that song again, the song actually is what created the inflection moment in that particular moment.

So that's why it's big inflection moment for me. Okay, moving on. I'm gonna cheat and play two songs for the next moment. Told you I was gonna cheat. When my papa died, my mom's dad.

It was right after a big breakup stuff, too. So I was just going through it. In this time of life, I discovered folk music. This is when I discovered folk music.

So it was like my second go at college or something. The song, all the little. The album all the Little Lights by Passenger, the whole album is really what's attached to this moment in my life.

Going through my first grandparent passing away in this, and I was failing at college. Like, my whole life felt like it was falling out. So this album is tied to one might be the lowest moment in my life.

And yes, I know I've died before, but to me, this is. I don't know. I couldn't explain why I was so low in this moment, but I was.

And then here comes sad existential music from Passenger that really ties into it. But if you know Passenger, he's that positive kind of existentialist.

And I've talked about this on the show before, where he doesn't just leave you in the sad part. He leaves you with the kind of hope existentialists have where you can create hope for yourself.

And I don't necessarily buy into it, but the songs mean a lot. And I still love Pastor. He's my favorite artist. So I'm gonna play two. I'm gonna play first the one in the Moment. This was the song that I tied to it.

It's called. It's the Tiddler song, All the Little Lights. And then later, after this, I'M gonna play the song that I attached to it.

Now, looking back, because I know what my pawpaw's message would be to me as opposed to what my message to myself was in the moment. So in the moment, here's the song I had tied to it from that album.

Nightclub when I was 15. Little lights in my heart in the dark and you show us the way One lights up every time you feel love no one dies and he moves away.

And yeah, that. That for me, in the moment, that line in the song is why I attached it to that one went out within me.

So he's talking about, like, all the times that the little lights inside of him are going out. And then in the course, he says he's explaining this kind of the metaphor. He just explained it for you, unless you're dumb like me.

Every time we feel love in our hearts, a light lights up within us.

And I was, you know, thinking like my papa, how much love he had for me and all the moments I had with him and all the lights that he put in me, how he lit up my world. And then I was thinking about the relationship, all the good times in the relationship and how I felt that love. And it was a light.

And now I lost this relationship there. When a light went out within me, I lost my pawpaw and the light went out within me. And just thinking of, like, how love is the meaning of life now.

And in that moment, that's what I felt like. I felt like all these things that were lighting up my life were fading out. They were going dark.

And that's why I felt like I was in such a dark place. And that song really put words to the feelings, and that was really helpful for me.

When I look back on it now, and I think what my grandfather would have told me.

Same album has another song with a more what I would say, a more positive message that puts words, the feelings I'm feeling now when I look back on this dark moment in my life. So, yeah, here's life's for the Living again off that all the Little Lights album by Passenger.

Sparks flew like planes Rain showed the rainbows in the oil stains we all had new iPhones no one had no one to call don't you cry for the lost Smile for the living get what you need I give what you're giving Life's for the living so live it or you better off dead I.

My grandpa, my pawpaw, he was a silly guy. Mostly jokes slave, you know, it doesn't feel right to just Say. He would say this really serious thing to me. He would. He'd throw some jokes in, too.

He made all kinds of.

At this funeral, a good friend of ours was the pastor, and he said his wife had to stop him from throwing his handkerchief in there after he blew his nose. He's like, what? He would do it to me. He would have. My papa would have. He was a funny guy. Pranks and stuff like that. That was his vibe.

But also, he would say something like this to me. He was a very Christian man. This isn't a Christian song. He would have never listened to it.

But I could hear him say to me, like, hey, don't cry for the lost. Smile for the living. Your mom, dad, smile for them. Don't cry for me. Life's for the living, so live it or you're better off dead.

Like, I could hear my grandpa saying that. See, this whole album is tied to this dark moment in my life, this inflection point, and very thankful for that album because it's still.

To this day, is so meaningful to me. I still go back to it for a source of meaning. Yeah.

So another inflection point for me in my life is going to go to try and think what I want to do next. I'm gonna go to same. Another different relationship. I went through a breakup, and this time it was my fault. I was very controlling.

I created a toxic relationship, and I was very manipulative and just bad to this girl. And I heard this song at a. At a church convention I was going to after that breakup. It's like, I don't. It's called no Longer Slaves by Bethel Music.

It's very ccm, very conservative, not kind of theology I agree with. But this song, I remember hearing it and thinking, I can't sing this.

At the time, I was afraid to be in a relationship because I was afraid of myself. Now that I saw my own shortcomings. This season, I'm lit and I'm looking. I'm like, man, that was so evil. I saw my own sin.

And I was afraid to be in a relationship, so I couldn't sing the song. And I did a lot of self work over that year. And that's when I got in my car accident.

And I remember I basically died and I came back and I remember there was a point when I had one of my brain surgeries going under that I was like, I'm actually not afraid at all of death or any of this. And I know that God's with me. I know that I've changed. And I know that I am in Christ.

And then after that surgery and everything happened, you know, at the time, I was thinking of the verse. I wasn't thinking of the song. I was thinking of the Bible verse that says, God's not given us this beard of fear, but of love.

You know, all that stuff. But then later, I heard the Sunk again, no Longer slaves. I was like, hey, now I can sing it. And I sung it loud and proud.

To me, this is an inflection point where I went from where I was like, man, what a wretch am I, As Paul would say, right? And I'm afraid to be in a relationship. I'm afraid of the sin that's in me that, you know, my dark passenger.

For those who watch Dexter, to a point where I was like, I'm actually not afraid of anything, including myself or death, because I know that who I have in me is greater than who anything that can stand against me. So, yeah, I know being cheesy with all the Bible verses, but it's a big inflection moment. All those verses are relevant, I promise.

But, yeah, let me play that song that meant so much to me, hearing it before and after that year.

I'm no longer a slave. The I am a child of God.

All right. Yeah. And again, it's another one.

I really don't think it's one of the best songs or anything, but it still means a lot to me because of how I reflected on my own self before and after that year. What's really weird is that when I heard it after the accident, it was actually at a church, my godfather's church. I was actually preaching.

I was going to tell the testimony what God brought me through with everything. And, you know, we're being ordained, working, being a minister. I've had a lot of changes in my theology.

I was still more conservative back then in that kind of Pentecostal conservative group. And I heard the song play. It was really full circle, kind of weird.

After they played the song, I went up and I was like, my dad, I was like, let me explain something to you about this. And I told them a little bit of my own testimony then and said, let's replay the song before I preach. And we played it again.

And you had that spiritual moment again. The spirit moving with that little bit of explanation, hearing that, those words again. No longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.

I am dearly beloved. If you heard the last episode, I did. Right.

And then to even go more full circle, what was Weird as after my papa died, so this was after all of that, I inherited his Bible. And I remember going through and I couldn't find anything highlighted, underlined. And I was so disappointed.

I wanted it to be a ton of notes to be like, oh, I could keep reading what my papa had to say and I couldn't find it. It was very sad but really weird during the surgery and all that, I wasn't able to read with all my brain damage.

Like I was literally not allowed to read or look at screens or anything. And I just remember random verses being stuck in my head. And since it was the only verse I could remember, I would just quote these verses myself.

And one was Isaiah 27:1. It was like the Lord, with his great and powerful and mighty sword, will slay Leviathan. Leviathan, the serpent, Leviathan.

You know, I can't even remember it now, but for some reason it stuck in there for me at that moment. I remember studying it in Bible college and Leviathan, ocean, all these things represent chaos and God slaying the chaos.

And for me that was very comforting to think about that. So I want to open it.

While I was preaching this testimony after just doing the song and doing like what my dad did back then with these are the days of Elijah and I just did something similar. Then I opened my paw paws Bibles that I was going to preach out of and there it was, the only thing he had highlighted. Isaiah 27:1.

The Lord with his great and powerful sword.

Actually, since I'm reflecting and I can't remember exactly what it will say, I want to read it out of the King James Version because that's what my papa's Bible was, the old King James Version, right in that day, the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword, will punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent, even Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. Dragon, Leviathan, sea. All these things represent chaos. God is great and powerful and he stops the chaos. He brings comfort, he brings peace.

Remembering how I was able to have peace and have this validation and kind of closure to a lot of stories and a lot of moments in my life with that even though no longer slayed. Fear is definitely not one of my favorite songs.

Babel music is definitely not one of my favorite bands, but it was a big moment for me, so definitely a good inflection point for me. Next one I'm going to go over is Judah and Lion. Sweet Tennessee.

This one is after my accident and everything when I was told you know, I might not be able to run. I might not be able to hike all this stuff. Me and my brother decided to go on a hike because I might not be able to hike again. But watch me.

I suffered. It was terrible. I suffered a lot as I kept trying to hike and run and stuff. And eventually, I believe God healed me and I was able to.

But when my brother went hiking, we went to Tennessee. We went to this place, the beauty spot, which turns out where people go to do proposals.

And it was weird because of me, my brother, and a bunch of people proposing in a field of flowers while we were hiking and. Yeah, anyway, but that's right after I just discovered Judah and the lion.

And we listened to the song because we were in Tennessee and we were hiking called Sweet Tennessee. And it still has a lot of meaning to me like that. Like, it's not a meaningful song, but it's attached to a meaningful moment.

And I love Jude and the lion, so we're gonna play it.

Story. Sweet Tennessee, Sweet home Alabama.

Yeah. And for those who don't know, I was born in Tennessee, so it also kind of, like, allowed me to tie to my roots.

So being there with my brother in Tennessee, hiking when I might not be able to hike again, going back to my roots, discovering Judah and Lion, it was a big moment for me. And it reminded me that, like, for a long time, I was, like, shameful that I was from Tennessee, that I was an American.

I was like, man, I should be English like C.S. lewis, and really educated. And I still want to be educated, but I'm also more comfortable that I am from Tennessee.

My family is from Kentucky, from the hills of Virginia. My papa, to my mom's description, would sometimes call himself a hillbilly. And I'm like, yeah, like that. That is my roots.

Appalachian, Kentucky, Tennessee. Some part of me is tied to all that. Some part of me is more than that, too.

But being okay with that and learning to be tied to my roots was a big moment, and being able to hike again was a big moment and my brother being there. So, yeah, Sweet Tennessee is a song that I have tied to a pretty huge one in my life. You know, I don't think the song is that deep.

I really just don't. But it's a good song. It's fun. Next one's win My pep Hall died. So there's the two moments here. One again, TJ Went with me.

We were supposed to go hiking. We couldn't figure out where we were supposed to hike, so we just kind of stopped the car and laid on a dock and just literally. This is so weird.

We literally listened to Johnny Cash all night. One night, I was in a dark place then, too, and TJ was just there with me. He's just being present. He didn't talk me through anything. He wasn't.

We were just listening to Johnny Cash sitting on a dock. Eventually, some random drunk people showed up, start shooting guns off of above us into the lake because they didn't know we were there.

And teacher's like, whoa. It was a frightening moment. And I learned a lot of the Johnny Cash music. And my pawpaw loved it. And I knew my pepaw loved it too.

Then when my papa passed away, we needed to pick a song from him. A few different songs. We had, like, a slideshow, and I wanted to make sure there was one from Johnny Cash.

And even though this is a cover that Johnny Cash did, it's one that I know my pepaw loved. And it's one we played at his funeral that I don't know. Every time I hear it, I just think about. I think I'll see him again.

I'm not 100 sure what my doctrine on heaven, hell, any of that is, but I think I'm gonna see my pet ball again.

We'll meet again don't know where don't.

Know when But I know we'll meet again Some sunny day yeah Johnny Cash will meet again. I believe it. I think about my paw paw, my granny, my pepaw. My granny and pepaw both died in the same year. It was rough.

I remember hearing that at his funeral. I still think about all of them, and I'm like, we'll meet again don't know when don't know where we'll meet again Some sunny day yeah.

So it's a big moment for me and just thankful that Johnny Cash was there to get me through it. The next one's a little bit happier. And this isn't in order of my life. My papa and my granny both met my wife. My paw paw never did.

Unfortunately, he would have loved her. They both have a very similar sense of humor. But I remember first started dating my wife, Tiffany.

We would just ride around in the car together and listen to music. And I was like, share different music. We both loved. And it turns out that we have a pretty different taste of music sometimes.

Some stuff we both love still. But I remember playing this because it was one that I was like, I really love this. And back then, like Mumford and son played at gas station.

But I Didn't know anybody who just listened to Mumford and Sons like I did because, you know, I just discovered folk music not that long ago. And most people I knew only listen to Christian music. But I remember listening to this with her and we enjoyed it right in the car.

And then I remember listening to it later going, man, actually, I kind of want to believe this girl loves me because I kind of love her. And, yeah, this is a good song. Yeah, I just remember sharing that with her.

And, oh, wait, she listened to that with me and we talked about why I liked it. And it was such a good moment. I. I actually think she was the first person because the circles I grew up in were all Christian.

Only listen to Christian music. And then afterwards when I meet non Christian friends, they only listen to, like, hard metal and rock. And I was like, I just couldn't get into it.

Or rap. And I like some rap, but harder.

For me, this was one of the first moments I remember being like, oh, there's someone who I can actually talk to about music I enjoy and have meaningful discussion. And I think that's when I first started falling in love with my wife, like, for real.

At the very least, that's what I have tied to that moment was that song Believe by Mufford and Sons. Other moments with my wife right afterwards. We were both into Ed Sheeran back then and he just released the Divides album.

And every time a particular song would play in the restaurant because I explained to her why this is what she means to me. Every time we would play that, we worked at Domino's together.

If it played on the speaker or on the radio, whatever, I would go up to her and hold her and we would dance a little bit. And probably not appropriate for the workplace, but I really didn't care. I loved this girl, still love her to death.

And ended up being our first dance at our wedding as well. So I'm gonna play this for you too, because it's again, big inflection moment. Changed my life.

Every night I'll kiss you, you'll say in my ear, oh, we're in love. Are we? Hands in your hair, fingers and thumb. Spade. Baby, I feel safe when you're holding me near. Love the way that you conquer your fear.

You know hearts don't break around here.

Yeah, I still like. It's a beautiful song. Still love it, even if I've kind of moved away from it during a little bit of my own music taste.

But that album will always have a special place because of how we shared it and how that would. Our wedding song. Right. And yeah, she is an incredible woman. If you know anything about her life, which y'all probably don't. Yeah.

It still amazes me how she conquers everything she is ever faced with. She's such a strong, powerful, courageous, wonderful woman. And I am so blessed. And I know hearts don't break around here.

I've gone through a lot of heartbreak, but we're always there for each other and. Yeah, so that sounds a good one.

And then the next one, also with my wife last year, I remember we were riding in the car together and we found a song that we both loved and belted out together.

Not a particular meaningful song, but I just reminded and rekindled that spark, that first spark from way back when we were riding the car listening to Mumford and Sons and Taylor Swift and all the songs that she liked too, and just kind of rekindled that feeling of like, oh, yeah, that's right. This is my friend that I ride around with and listen to music. Like, she's obviously more than a friend, but she's also that.

And having that rekindled was particularly meaningful. So thank you, Noah Khan. Dial, drone.

Ring, even the car.

Yeah. And we both still will listen to this one in the car from time to time and belt it out. I do love it. No Con is one of my favorite.

That is one of my favorite songs. Even though, again, not particularly meaningful.

But it's so good and just kind of the wordplay there of like, I'll die all drunk, I'll die a drunk, I'll die for you. Like a. Yeah, good wordplay, good fun. I love no Khan as an artist and I love having these moments with my best friend and wife.

And still those moments are what makes life meaningful. So it's a current inflection point, I guess.

But yeah, one more I wanted to share is I started accepting different theology, started growing in my own thinking and spiritual journey. Right.

And one of them was kind of looking at the Bible and seeing like parts where it's like, you know, just as we all died in Adam, we're all alive in Christ, so we're all in Christ.

And then we're all saying and then thinking about like, if God is all powerful and he made us all to be with him, it makes no sense that we wouldn't one day be with Him. You know, like the all powerful being in the universe should bring us all back to Him.

I'm not going to get into a theological argument with you guys right now. We have a lot of people who disagree with me on the network, it's fine.

But coming to this theology and then listening back to one of my favorite hymns growing up, I'm like, oh, this has a whole different meaning to me now. And I love it. So I kind of attached this song, sold him to it.

And I'm gonna play the casting crowns version because casting crowns, even though I disagree with a lot of their stuff, they still have nice voices, pretty voices.

When we all get to what a day of rejoicing that will be and when we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory.

Yeah.

And it doesn't help that I also started off, only more to like the Christ is Victor atonement model, where I'm like, I actually don't think that Christ paid the death, the penalty for us, that we're all going to be punished by sin. I don't believe that version of atonement model personally.

I think Christ's death matters only so that he could conquer death and could conquer hell in the grave. The death isn't what mattered. The resurrection to me is where we find salvation.

When Christ conquered sin, death in the grave, that we all can now, just as we participated in the defeat of Adam in this life, we get to participate in the victory over death sin in the grave in the next life, thanks to Jesus. Yeah, hearing that. What? But when we all see Jesus, what we'll see, we're going to show out for victory. And I love that.

When we all, when we meet again with my paw paw, my granny and my papa and you listeners and we're in heaven and I'm like, when we all see Jesus, what a day of rejoicing it will be. Yeah, that sounds like a whole new meaning for me.

So I'm attaching that to that kind of inflection moment where I've changed my theology to be more Christus Victor, more universalist kind of Christian. Universalist, I would say. Not just universalist.

I still think Jesus is the only way, but I just think everyone is going to be eye to eye with Jesus one day. So that's where I'm at. We're all going to have to accept them eventually. And the sooner you do, I think the better your life is.

Like, I don't think it's like, oh, you're sin. You need to repent so you can be a Christian and behave the right way. I think, no, being in Christ is the best way to live.

And God wants us all to have that. And eventually we will. It's just how Long do you want to wait for your best life? I want to have it now.

I want to be in Jesus now because that is my best life, is in Christ, in that freedom that comes with the year of jubilee. We are in the year of jubilee. It is for freedom. Christ set us free. And we can all participate in that now, or we can wait till later.

But I think let's have it now. Let's have freedom, let's have love, let's have joy, peace, kindness now. Why not? It's great. I love being saved. I love being a Christian. I love Jesus.

I mean, all the relationships I have. I'm so happy and blessed and loved.

And even as I reflect on all these moments of death, of loss, of my own shortcomings and sin, then the toxic relationships I caused, I also reflect to go, you know what? Hallelujah.

I have a great God, great Jesus and great relationships, and I am so blessed and so excited for when we meet again and we all get to heaven. You know, someone needs to do it, do it like a. Like a mashup of when we meet again and when we all get to heaven.

I don't think people do mashups with hymns, do they? Maybe if they do, they should. That'd be a good one. But, yeah, that's where I'm at. These are some of the moments for those who know.

Last year I had a shooting at my house. My wife and dog both almost died. So I'm currently in another inflection moment where I can feel my life changing.

I'm not playing a song for that because I feel like it's not really appropriate till I look back and see. See it from hindsight for what it is. I think it'll probably end up being Passenger's simple song, which is one of. One of my favorite songs.

But it's also one of those that just reminds me sometimes we don't have the words. Sometimes we just need a simple song. So I like that song a lot.

And that's what I think is probably going to be this current inflection moment, the song that I attach to it. But I'm not sure. I do know that I attach a lot of moments to very specific songs.

And these 12 or 13 or 14 are some of the ones that really helped get me through.

And I hope you guys, you know, when you think about your own things and you think of music, if you think of a time in your life that was really meaningful for you and it makes you think of a song, stop and listen to it. Stop and meditate on it. Just doing this exercise for this podcast and doing it in my own life during the season of Lent really helped me a lot.

So I think it's good for all of us to think back on our own inflection points and some of the music attached to it and what it means to us and to share with one another so we can have community together. But yeah, so that was this episode. Probably a weird one, but that's fine. This is a podcast, no rhyme, rhythm or reason.

So is what it is coming soon though, once the Muffin and Sons album drops later this month in March and I have some time to sit with it for a while, I don't want to do right after the album sit with a while. I want to do a review of both Lumineers Automatic as well as the new Mumford and Sons album.

So I'll review both of them together as kind of my plan at some point. Again, it's not scheduled.

There's no rhyme, rhythm or reason to this show, which is why you need to subscribe if you want to know when episode to drop. So if you want to hear that one, if you want to hear the one I'm gonna do with Brandon soon, subscribe.

So you get those notifications hit the bell, all that stuff. So you get notifications when episodes are out because there is no schedule.

Please rate and review our show so that other people will see it whenever we do decide to drop stuff eventually. You know that stuff really helps whether you're rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, GoodPods, Podchase, wherever you can. It helps.

Wherever you listen, do something and then of course share. You can share it through social media or you can share it personally one on one.

I found that if you share it with someone personally, give them a recommendation, they're more likely to listen and you're more likely to have more meaningful conversations. So I think just kind of share it with somebody personally. Again, this was very personal to me, very vulnerable.

But I don't care if you share my life with total strangers because otherwise I wouldn't be doing a podcast. So I know what I got myself in for.

Anyway, guys, I hope you can all join us in continuing to find more music to sing along to together, to ride in the car blasting together. If you want to make your own episode, email us.

You know, I'd love to have hear what you guys are reflecting on and the music that's meaningful to you. And of course keep joining us as we continue to make more joyful noises. Some joyful noises together. Until next time, guys.