Well, the world’s celebration of the coming of the Lamb of God has come and gone once again.
I don’t normally write about myself on this page but, at the moment, my mind seems to be focused on not only this immediate Christmas past, but on others as well from back over the many years I’ve been on this earth.
Paraphrasing the title of Ed O’Neal’s longtime column in Singing News … all I, Marlin Taylor, really ever wanted to do in life is create radio programming that would bring joy and warmth to people’s hearts. And, the programming of music for the holiday season has always been a key part of that. It’s hard to believe that I pioneered the concept of playing Christmas carols and seasonal favorites non-stop without commercials on an FM station in Philadelphia 49 years ago.
For some reason, perhaps age, getting two stations successfully and properly programmed through this year’s holiday season seemed to consume more time and energy than I can remember experiencing in any previous year. (This is not to say that I don’t want ever to do it again.) Hence, in hindsight, it would appear to be the working of the Holy Spirit that we planned nothing special for Christmas Day or the days leading up to it beyond purchasing tickets to attend two Christmas musical performances.
On Saturday morning the 22nd, I finally finished up the Christmas Festival of Music which airs each year on Escape Channel 69. The first of the two concerts was that evening … and, following that, other than Alicia singing in the choir for our church’s Christmas Eve service, we became listeners … dividing our time between attending the second concert, listening to one or the other of my channels and listening/watching musical performances and stories on television … right through to Christmas evening when another couple without local family joined us for a non-traditional meal at an area restaurant.
We did not ignore family, as we have none in this immediate area. Children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are scattered from California to Texas to Florida – we’ll see them in the months ahead. Other family members plus friends live in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania … where we expect to be when you read this.
Looking back, my first experience at producing a program for radio was a Christmas special, a half-hour presentation telling the story of Handel’s writing of the Messiah, with narration and including several of the choral portions of Handel’s great work. For the latter, I recorded the Trenton Community Chorus of Trenton, New Jersey … where I first saw and met my wife Alicia. Two Christmases later, in 1959, I would be in the military and spend Christmas Day on the air on KOLD, the base radio station in Thule, Greenland.
This Christmas of 2012 saw the ninth airing of a Southern Christmas Celebration on enLighten, having been first presented in 2004, just weeks after we launched on November 15th of that year as an OnLine-only channel as part of XM Radio’s new Internet service.
Yes, I have been blessed mightily throughout my life. Like so many others born during the Great Depression and the years following, our household had very little money but, as children, we never realized that we were poor and didn’t have what some others had. Yet, our great God bestowed upon me the unique talent for being able to choose recordings and assemble programming that would bring joy, peace, comfort to uplift the hearts of the masses. Why He blessed me so, I doubt I’ll ever know … but I am ever so thankful.
And, I rejoice every day that I am privileged to shepherd this station that I pray will continue to provide this uplifting, Lord-glorifying music for years and years after my days have come to an end.
That’s my story. What’s your story? I’d love to read it if you wish to share. We’re only an E-mail away.
New Year’s Resolution . . .
We all know what we should do and not do, what is right vs. wrong. Hence, there’s only one resolution a Christian needs to make … that is to heed James 1:22 – 25:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
