I should say, "Why I love Christan Rap Music", but that is not as catchy a title, is it?
Y'all, it's really simple. I Do like the way rap sounds. I like that when you turn up the base really loud in the car, you can actually feel the beat. I think the ability to talk/sing that fast is amazing. And, if for no other reason, it's what I grew up in---it was what you listened to if you were my age in middle school and high school. But all of that is just part of why I initially started listening to rap. The rest of it is, for a little white, middle-class, straight-A, good citizen, young woman, listening to rap was "rebellious" to me. I knew it baffled my parents. I knew it annoyed people sitting with you at the stoplight when your base was so loud it sounded like your car was gonna fall to pieces right there in the intersection. I knew it would attract attention, and gain approval, from the group of people I wanted to impress at the time. So, I listened to my Luda and 50 Cent and Eminem. It sort of seemed like the only fitting music to listen to as I engaged in all the other stupid things I did during that period of my life.
And then, when I was seventeen, 7 months before I graduated from high school, I met Jesus. As I realized my sin, and my emptiness apart from God, I cried big soul-deep sobs at the altar of the Aberdeen First Baptist Church building, and I called out on Jesus' Name, and asked Him to forgive me, and told Him I wanted to do things His way now. I got up So light, so free, and so convinced that everything in my life was about to change. And it did. Some if it, immediately. Some it, not so immediately. Some of it, God is still working on. I'm thankful for the promise in Philippians 1:6 that He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Honestly, I can't remember what I listened to right after I started walking with Jesus. Probably, it was a mix of all the stuff I used to listen to, and a lot of new-to-me music about Jesus. What I do remember is the first time I heard of this guy named Lecrae who raps for Christ. And I was like "This is AWESOME." You know why it's awesome? Because, for me, rap was the soundtrack to all the garbage I used to love. But, God had redeemed it. So, now when I listen to rap that glorifies God, it just screams to me "Redemption!!!" God is a redeemer. He redeems people. He redeems music. Amen.
So, if you're behind me at the stoplight and you hear my car shaking, and you're thinking "Is she...?" Yes, I am!
