Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Unforgettable" (Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole)

Welcome to Tuesday!!!  You've clicked-in to the place where Rock meets Romans, where Jazz meets Jeremiah, where Country meets Chronicles and where YOU can meet and rediscover some of popular music's greatest hits AND get a dose of discipleship in the process!  It's Tuesday's Musical Notes!  (insert your favorite leftover New Year's noisemaker sound here!)

The new Tuesday's Musical Notes' year began last week with remembering old times with the New Year's favorite Auld Lang Syne (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Auld Lang Syne")  As we continue to remember 2015, it is with sad hearts that we said goodbye to some very gifted, and some well, interesting, musicians in 2015.  Here is a list of some of the more notable musical finale from this year:  "Musicians Who Died In 2015" - ranker.com

The above article was submitted prior to the last day of the year as on that day, the musical world saw the death of an "Unforgettable" artist, Natalie Cole.

"Unforgettable" - by Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole from the 1991 album Unforgettable...With Love

 

If your father is musical legend Nat King Cole and you mom sang with Duke Ellington, there is a pretty strong chance that your vocational choice will be music on some level.  Natalie began her career at age 6 by singing on her father's Christmas album.  At age 11, she began performing in a more professional level. It would be the decade of the 70's before she would hit with the #6 smash, "This Will Be" from the 1975 album Inseperable by Natalie Cole". From 1975 to 1979 she saw her first 6 albums go either Gold or Platinum.  In that same time span, she received a Grammy for Best New Artist (1976) and 2 Grammys for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female (1976 & 1977).  But to a generation of fans she is best known for the 1991 duet album that she did with her dad, Unforgettable...With Love.  The album garnered an impressive 3 Grammy wins (Album of the Year, Record of the Year ("Unforgettable"), and Best Traditional Pop Performance). It also ignited a new generation with a love of and appreciation for Nat King Cole's music.  Natalie Cole died December 31, 2015 of congestive heart failure caused in part by years of substance abuse and addiction.

Dictionary.com defines the word "unforgettable" as something indelibly impressed on the memory.  Can you think of folks in your circle of friends to which that word can be applied?  Are you one that could be described by others in that manner?  What moments in your mind will always seem to exist?

The Notes has affirmed the fact that music has the capacity to stir memories that are indelibly impressed.  In a way, your musical choices serve as the soundtrack of your life.  Some of your favorite songs may remind you of "seasons" of your life or perhaps even evoke the memories of a specific event.  In this way, music has the ability to reinforce memories.  

Many songs in the "Gospel" or "Christian" genre are meant to evoke an experience with someone "unforgettable".   Some incredibly good songs have been written about some of these specific moments of our lives. ""I Never Shall Forget The Day" by the Speer Family" or ""I've Just Seen Jesus" by Sandi Patti and Larnell Harris" or maybe ""I Need A Miracle" by Third Day" are just a few examples of incredible interactions of an unforgettable nature.  The inspiration for these songs are found in the unforgettable encounters that folks had with Jesus as told to us through the Bible.

In the Old Testament, an encounter with Jesus is called a Theophany, a preincarnate appearance of Jesus on earth.  When asked about these occurences, Answers In Genesis provides this excellent study:  "Theophanies In The Old Testament" by Tim Chaffey from Answers In Genesis, January 13, 2012).  As you can see, Biblical patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob, both had experiences that they would never forget which involved Jesus.  What has your experience with Jesus been?

Fast forward to the New Testament age.  Jesus comes as an incarnate, fully physical human being to earth.  His birth would be the beginning of a life of unforgettable encounters with the people who came within His circle of influence.  Surely, Mary and Joseph would have been among the list of those who regaled their extraordinary times that were caused by Jesus.  The shepherds were given a front row seat to the birth of the One they had been told about for ages.  Later, the wise men were said to "worship" the child as they experienced His presence.

 

As you read the Gospels of Jesus, (The Gospel Of Jesus according to Matthew New International Version of the Bible/The Message Paraphrase of the Bible parallel, 

 

The Gospel of Jesus according to Mark NIV/The Message parallel,

  

The Gospel of Jesus according to Luke NIV/The Message parallel,

  

The Gospel of Jesus according to John NIV/The Message parallel)

 

you soon realize that each time that Jesus has a conversation with a person and in some cases merely walks by them, their lives are no longer the same.  He has an unforgettable effect on them.  From His encounter with a prostitute at a well to His explanation of who He was to the religious ruling class (Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea), Jesus, as the physical embodiment of God, had an opportunity to impact lives that would be forever remembered.  Each of the disciples lives were totally transformed as they gave up their specific vocations and passions to follow Jesus and later begin the Church all around the globe.  In the Book of Acts, we are introduced to one of the last transformational occurrences that coming into contact with Jesus would cause.  Saul, a persecutor of Christians, has a life changing experience with the risen Jesus as he is traveling on the way to Damascus.  Saul's meeting with Jesus on that Damascus road would forever remain burned into the mainframe of his mind.  It would become the driving force by which he would repent of his prior life, and become the Apostle Paul.  (Acts of the Apostles 9:1-31 NIV/The Message parallel)

So, friend, have you had an encounter with Jesus that you could describe as unforgettable?  You certainly would know it if you had.  Please understand that what we are describing is NOT, coming to the front of someone's church and reciting a scripted prayer.  While eternal life change can occur in this fashion, that is not the way the Bible describes how an interaction with Jesus can forever change us.  You see, the Bible says, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  You turn over control of your life.  You believe that Jesus died as a payment for your wrong doing against God.  You believe that Jesus came back to life and is alive with God, still mediating for your wrong doing.  The Bible says, YOU WILL BE SAVED.  Not sure how much simpler it could be than that.

 

In fact, you could say that it's incredible,
that something so life changing is...unforgettable.

"How Can It Be", title track from the 2015 album by Lauren Daigle

'Til Tuesday,

Serving HIM by serving you,

Randy