Dear Father, Master and Lord, in your home on high, Praise you for another morning in your creation and among the fellowship of your people! Yes, I long to join you in your heavenly realm and look forward to the awesome day you bring all believers into your eternal kingdom, but for the time remaining here on earth, I pray you keep my brothers and sisters in Christ and I within the blessed guidance of your will, with the same effectiveness and authority here among your sheep as there is with you in Glory. I know I often pray for things that you know I don’t need, but in your wisdom please continue to grant me the things you know are best for all of your people; Food and shelter for the body and spiritual strength for our walk with you. I know, Father, that I sometimes trip and fall. Please continue to pick me up as you always do, help me to learn from those mistakes, and forgive my straying, so that I may extend the same love, support and guidance to those around me who may slip and fall as well. Let me look upon those who have wronged me with the awesome passionate forgiveness that you have given me, and please give me the foresight to recognize the hazard of sin’s temptation, and gently guide me back along your path. I know I can ask this, because only you have power and dominion over all, and I give you all of the praise and glory my soul can boast… Amen, so be it.

Job losses. Financial fallout. Pre-existing conditions. Many things stand to drive a wedge between you or I and getting health care. I know, because for the most part, I have not been able to get it now, for years.

I am sure you are aware of what is happening out there;  I have watched in horror, as  recently the news seems to get darker and darker for people.  The times are getting tougher, and it seems the government is bailing out companies and corporations that bring no relief to the common person.  As factories are closed and jobs are downsized, people are feeling a squeeze that this generation has never felt before.  Companies and municipalities are slashing benefits, leaving consumers to fend for themselves for their healthcare, and it is going to get worse before it gets better.

Many of you know that I have deserved my nickname, “The Big Guy” for many years.  What may not show beyond that are some of the other maladies I have had, High Blood Pressure and Rheumatoid arthritis topping the list, along with others.  For years, I have tried to find insurance that would cover me, only to be turned away or to be prohibitively expensive.   To make things even worse,  less than a year ago, I was injured on-the-job to such a point that left me  on permanent restrictions that have disqualified me from many occupations, even those that I have worked in extensively in the last 30 years.  To add insult, when the doctor felt he had gone as far as he could in repairing me, my benefits stopped cold.  I was left to deal with the pain, the costs, and the insecurity on my own.  Had it not been for the prayers and help of friends, I would not have made it this far.

Even though the doctor felt he had done what he could, I still needed my medicines and other medical issues taken care of.  I visited clinics and searched the internet, looking for a low-cost solution to my health care needs.  On top of this, I was trying to find work, and it seemed that every company I went to was eying my cane warily when I would walk in.

One day, while searching again on the internet for ways to get around my problems, I came across an affordable alternative to insurance, and at an incredibly low price!  This was something called, “Consumer-Driven Health Care”.

Now, I am as much a skeptic as most anyone.  I have been on the receiving end of more than one scam, and I was not about to be taken in when our finances were so critical, so I read.  I read everything they had to offer on their company.  Everything I found concerning this company was legit.

Don’t take my word for it:  It’s not insurance, but the benefit programs that they offer are a HUGE help to me!  I can save money on almost anything to do with my health or prescriptions, and they have plans that start for less than 20 dollars a month!  But, don’t take my word:  CLICK HERE to check out this site, and see for yourselves.  You won’t be spammed, or tracked, or anything like that;  And more than that, I want to hear back on what you think!  All I can say is, for ME, it was a big help at a time when I needed a big help.

God bless, and thanks for reading!

Tom

A new approach to health care management.

I just read an article while doing some research today, and discovered a secular, left-wing talk radio station in Sacramento California has changed its format, and has its listeners and other advocates across the nation up in arms.

It’s going GOSPEL!

KSAC 1240 AM has ousted all of their “Talk Radio” programs, citing revenue losses from the lack of “Big Buck” advertisers.  This action evoked comments from all over the country, with people claiming the station has “Sold Out” to higher revenue or that they are kissing up to right wing pressure.  Station management claims the problem is NOT listenership, but indeed advertising, citing that “Right Wing” radio is steeped in national advertising, while they have not been so blessed.

Two things bother me about their responses:  First of all, had they the “listenership” they claim to have, the advertising would have come, period.  Business advertising follows the numbers.  Very little attention is paid to the format, so much as the demographic profile of the station listeners.

Second, is related to the above, but has a deeper relevance, overall:  Gospel Music, historically speaking, does NOT generate much in the way of revenue, compared to secular music.  As for those “National Ads” they were crying about, many products advertised on “national” radio can not  or will not advertise on christian stations, since their products often go astray of biblical principles.  This means, no advertising from the Beer and Wine industry, no “popular” restaurant chains, such as Applegeeze or Duby Tuesway (names changed to protect the innocent – ME!) and the list goes on!

Quite honestly, the article doesn’t state whether the station is going to Southern Gospel, to Urban Gospel or any other particular form of Gospel.  But a visit to the station’s old webpage www.talkcity1240.com only displays an “Under Construction” banner at the moment of this writing.  Regardless however, I feel this is a great step in the right direction for secular meda.  Urban Gospel stations, of late, have seen a 30% increase in revenue, but it’s important to add, this is an AM station, which typhically don’t have the audio quality that an FM does, so it’s hard for me to imagine it handling the extreme audio involved with Urban Gospel.

One straight advantage, over and above ministry opportnity, is that the AM signal carries much farther than FM, especially over or through any kind of rough or hilly terrain.

In Mark, chapter 9, it reads:

38 John said unto him, Teacher, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followed not us. 39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man who shall do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me. 40 soever shall give you a cup of water to drink, because ye are Christ’s, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Regardless of management motive, I think we need to consider this a small, but important, victory!

Ya Gotta Love It!
Tom Whiteman
2008

You know, often there are times when things go wrong. And I imagine, I probably get as many of those “times” as the average Joe. No… The average TOM. I get just as many as most folks. Some more, some less, but bad things do happen. And most of the time, the response that rolls off my lips when in the midst of one of those times where you just don’t understand it, there’s really no one to blame, and it’s not going to fix itself, is “Ya gotta love it!” Sometimes, when I am especially disgruntled or in a sarcastic mood, I even add, “Ya don’t know what ELSE to do with it”.

Now, a good many people either laugh at this or they look at me like I’ve popped a cork, but most generally, just saying those words helps me to assimilate, or “absorb” the situation at hand, and move on.

This evening, at work, we had someone who did a “No call, no show” on us. Meaning, of course, they didn’t come to work as expected and did not call to let anyone know about it. Most of my coworkers grumbled and complained, as many would. This usually means a lot of extra work for however many hands are left. Me, I rattled off, “Ya gotta love it”.

Again, the strange looks. I can imagine how they must have felt. For that matter, in the occasional time that I have been asked what I meant by those words, I never really clearly described it, nor had I taken the time to think a lot about it myself. You see, it goes back many years for me, when a good friend of mine had about the same habit of saying it that I have now. I just kind of picked it up and plopped it right into my vocabulary.

But tonight someone did ask. In fact I think they almost thought I was making light of the situation. Unfortunately, I was ill-prepared to answer at the moment. This experience, though, got my mental wheels turning, and the answer had already been right in front of me, earlier this week during my personal devotions:

In Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 5, it states:
Ephesians 4
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism
(NASV)

Did you catch the answer, there? Let me repeat it for you: walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.

I had been studying Ephesians all of this past week, and yet the answer did not come quickly to mind at the moment. But later, after I got home and reviewed my reading, there it was as plain as day.

What Paul is saying in that passage is, “In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And take note that you do this with humility and discipline—not in short bursts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences. You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly.”
The road we are given is the road we travel. And we are told here, that even when the road turns rocky, to pour ourselves out for each other in acts of love.
When the kids (or the parents) are disobedient and cranky? “Ya gotta love it”.
When the cable guy doesn’t show up between 1 and 4 as promised? “Ya gotta love it!”
When your spouse forgets an important appointment? “Ya gotta love it!”
When someone, somewhere, messes up and creates more work for you and everyone around you? Ya GOTTA love it!
Romans 5:8
God demonstrates His own love for us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for US
(NASB)
This is the collective us. The disobedient, wandering, failing and falling US. And He did so unconditionally, only asking that we love each other- not just Christians or church members or family, but each other- in all humility and discipline, pouring ourselves out to and for each other!
This was a missed ministry opportunity for me. I should have been fully ready with an answer for those words I have used, literally for decades, so flippantly.

1 Peter 3
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
(NASB)

You might not see it as so serious a situation. Yet tonight I felt convicted over the matter. Maybe I couldn’t have opened up into a full-blown discussion at the moment, but I could have taken the opening as an opportunity to prepare to share; He wanted to know why I said, “Ya gotta love it.” My response could have been something so simple as to have said, “When you have a some free time, there’s a friend I would like you to meet.” and followed up as time allowed.

Our reactions in times of stress or disappointment speak volumes for the hope that is in us. The more we learn of the love of God through Christ, the more we realize how important it is for others to know that peace that passes all understanding and to “speak up“ in His name. It’s not quite as hard as it seems either; I myself, for years, used to freeze up at crucial ministry opportunities out of a fear of “getting it wrong”. But in the word of God, there is no wrong, just as in Christ, there is nothing fickle or false (James 1:17). My fear of getting it wrong was purely and simply a lack of fully preparing myself in the word.

For all of us, our point of contact for the cause of Christ is wherever our feet happen to be planted. To repeat myself, Our response at critical moments speaks volumes for the hope that is in us. Take that time, starting now, to get to know Him better, deeper, and more intimately so that others can hear from you just why you have that HOPE when things go wrong.

When we take the time, regularly and diligently, to dig into the word and prepare our hearts through the word, the Holy Spirit will use that word to change us in accord with God’s will in our lives, and help us to know the importance of a relationship with him and overcome those moments of fear and hesitance. Then we can begin to clearly see just why “Ya gotta love it!”

Its easy to try to console another person who has lost something; a Job, a spouse, an opportunity, among other things. It’s another to succeed. Me, I lost a job last week.
Worse than that, it was a job I LIKED. Enjoyed, even. And the final cut that hurt the most? They liked ME.
I had gained employment at a company that tests rail track for virtually all the major Railroad companies in the world. Yes, the world. Granted, it was mostly an entry-level position, but this company pretty much promotes solely from within, and some people have even gone on to work for the Railroads themselves, or even to lucrative Federal appointments.
I have been working a “Rail Inspection Vehicle” that test the actual rail that trains run on all day, every day. I was an Assistant Operator, meaning I kept the truck going where it needed to go and repaired or maintained in whatever fashion it needed it. I would also get out and assist the chief Operator with his “hand testing” of any defects indicated by our componentry on the vehicle. This consists of getting out of the truck and onto the tracks and using our hand-held gear to verify those defects, mark the track at the point of indication, take measurements, and tie off a ribbon on the ties so that repair crews could follow-up and take care of the defects behind us. This job helped prevent derailments.
My supervisor liked me, as I mentioned before. I received numerous compliments for my willingness to do what needed doing on the job and after hours from most everyone whom I’d had contact with.
So why did I lose this job? Believe me, it was a shock to even me. I worked hard, was well liked, and yet while on my first “Vacation” I was notified by telephone that I wouldn’t be returning. Their reason, as stated, that there was a “strong concern” that because I was slower than average in getting back up off of the ground after marking a defect, that I was a “Safety Concern”. See, the Railroad mandates that a person fouling the rail (working on the track) needs to be able to physically clear the rail (Get off the track) quickly and efficiently. Because I have a harder time getting up (due to bad knees, mostly) I took about 5 seconds longer to get up than most, and this made me a safety concern, and they would not be returning me to a truck.

Now, I KNOW I’m getting older, but hardly what I would call “OLD”

I was shocked, devastated even. In the working world, I have always been a hard working man, and have never been “let go” before. Furthermore, it seemed like it hit me at a time when so many other areas of my life seemed to be going better.
It took a few days to heal, but heal I did. Still, those few days were filled with quite a bit of introspection and worry. Short-term jobs listed on your work history only make it harder to get good work, period. Now, I have been faced with the possibility of having to go back to straight driving, over the road, or taking a lesser-paying local job.
Last Sunday my eyes were opened to one glaring thing: I still hadn’t learned to completely trust God. Instead, inwardly I think I even BLAMED him. But in everything that I have ever completely released to Him, He has proven more than faithful. And that Sunday Service was aimed straight at my self-pitiful heart. There, being a Palm Sunday service, I heard over and over how Christ had given his life up so that others might live, and that He had to trust his Father unto death; Hardly the caliber of my sufferings, to say the least. But Jesus said it over and over in Gethsemane, “Not my will, but thine”. I was moaning and groaning over a stupid JOB and not sacrificing a single drop of blood for anyone in the midst of hearing the greatest love story ever told!
How wrong is that?
Conviction hit me like a loaded truck, and all of a sudden I realized that once again I had made the world about me and not about HIM.
Once I awoke to this fact, I could clearly see all the times that he has seen me through in the past, and how very much he loves me, and has promised to do good things for Him through me. How shallow am I, to take my eyes off the prize because of a pothole in the road?
How is it that Satan can use such small and insignificant things in order to distract us from doing the work of God, or from trusting Him? How great are the tears of a Father who gave his only son to die on a cross, that I might be able to live victoriously in the face of difficulties, only to have me trip over my own shoelaces and not trust him yet again?
Many will try to console me and say my feelings are “normal”. But it is not a normal life that I seek in Him, nor do I believe my God, all-knowing, all-powerful, all loving that he is, would either settle with “normal”.
He’s my God, and I have to trust Him to do great things. After all, He promised.

In Service of the King
Tom Whiteman

In the world of Music, things are changing every day, every moment. Where once there were hard lines drawn to delineate different genres, crossover artists now abound. In my 20 years of being a fan of Gospel Music, I have seen many changes in what was actually considered Southern Gospel Music.

I have tried to view the industry with an open eye, but have found my one criteria for any Singer, be they Christian or otherwise, is that they have a passion for their music. And so much moreso in Southern Traditional Gospel Music. THIS is the genre where you most often find groups and artists who do what they do because of a love for their Lord and the listeners, and for the most part, have a good time doing it!

My goal here is to just journal my observations as they come to mind; To share news and maybe even Concert listings and updates on groups and their movements.

So, basic as it is for now, WELCOME to the Gospel Music Roundup Blog! You will notice the links to the left for my podcasts, or at least the last ten of them. Check them out… and if you like what you hear, let the artist KNOW about it. will try to keep an active listing here of links to artists pages and emails as I get them.

If YOU are an artist and would like to hear your songs on one of my podcasts, please drop me an email at:

gospelmusicroundup@yahoo.com

I’ll be sure to get to you as soon as possible!

Thanks for looking!

I know what it’s like. You hurt. You feel a pain that is indescribable to your friends and family. An aching so deep that words cannot express it. Like the words are just out of your reach, or on the tip of your tongue, as it were.
Sickness, physical pain, and loss of a loved one all bring their own form of pain, but you usually KNOW what the cause of those may be. As I mentioned before, you do not know WHY you feel the pain I speak of.
This kind of pain usually results from one of two things: Sin in your life or spiritual malnourishment. and actually both of those can be combined into one: Spiritual Malnourishment is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit telling us something is wrong. We need to deal with it, and NOW.
Before you turn me off thinking I don’t have a clue what you are going through, allow me to clarify. Either You “know” Christ or you don’t. If you don’t, any pastor can help introduce you to him and you can begin your healing process. It’s not as hard as you might think: Christ came to earth to seek and to save that which was lost, and that includes just about everyone at some point or another, and His salvation is offered freely to all who would believe. But I speak here more to the one who already has accepted Christ and has been walking with him for some time.
You could be “in tune” with God, doing your bible study, and every other thing you might have thought of as essential to your walk with Christ. But sometimes God places tasks on our hearts via the Holy Spirit that we are to do for Him. This could be to speak out for him to a close friend, or to reach out to a family in danger. It could be for you to sit down and write a sermon, even though you don’t normally get up and speak, but perhaps something that you need to share with your pastor.
It is when we ignore these promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives that we begin Spiritual Malnourishment; we start to feel “FAR” from God and isolated or even depressed. It hurts. And it’s not going away.
In these moments of pain I find the Word to be my starting point for relief. Yes, I KNOW you have your regular Bible Study, but this time you need to start digging in the Word beyond the plan. There is no formula to it, for me. I start by just praying for guidance, and open the Bible to read. Sometimes I start in the Psalms or the Proverbs, other times I just hope the page will fall open to what I need to see. The idea is to keep talking to God (praying) and reading, seeking his message to you.
Many of you are thinking this sounds WAY over-simplified. It may be. But it’s how I deal with it, and it has worked for me. The whole idea of our salvation to BEGIN with is that there is NOTHING we can do to save OURSELVES, and only the Blood of Jesus can. This reliance on the power of Christ in our lives continues on in the relationship. It’s not a situation where we say, “Well, thanks for the salvation… I’ll take it from here”. To think we even COULD is ludicrous. The Power of our Salvation is also the Power of our Living. Yet we seem to constantly want to be “in charge” and making the decisions, so we wander off into our own plan and ignore God’s. Where is the logic in that? The LOGIC is as follows: God wanted us—God created us—God provided for us—God forgave us—God saved us—God leads us.
You may not like the answers you get in your quiet time with God. But the ARE answers, nonetheless. We simply have to adjust our own attitudes to one of being willing to accept His plan in OUR lives.
So much of our walk with Christ depends on centering him in your eyes and your heart. THAT is true balance for when you hurt.