El Shaddai/I Will Heal Their Land

I'm closing this series about some of the music I listen to with my all-time favorite artist, Michael Card.

And now our God will dwell with them

The new Jerusalem
And He himself will walk with them
The new Jerusalem
And God Himself will wipe the tears
From every weeping eye
No death, no pain, no mourning cry
And every tear made dry

I'm not certain which should be the title for today's music. I know I heard El Shaddai many times, probably on the radio, years and years ago though I never knew the name of the musician or any of his other works. When I first heard of Michael Card recently, it was through lyrics from I Will Heal Their Land posted on a friend's status on Facebook. Now here's the shocking part, so brace yourselves. I looked up the song and I didn't like it at all. Yup, you read that right. Now after listening to quite a wide range of Michael Card, I realize that it was certainly not the best song to start by which to be introduced to Michael Card. So I wrote him off as in artist I didn't like (though thankfully my mind was changed later!). I can't clearly recall exactly what changed my mind, though I imagine it was probably back when I wrote on the names of God and a friend posted the lyrics to El Shaddai (Hey, at least it gives me someone to blame! ;) ). At least that is the clearest turning point in my mind that I recall. From there, I looked up more of his music and absolutely fell in love. His music simply can not be topped. He is one of the few artists with solid, biblical lyrics. The beauty of his lyrics overcomes anything lacking in the music. If you haven't heard of Michael Card, don't wait another second to listen to his music. Or if you're like me, and didn't enjoy his music previously, I encourage you to give him a second chance. You'll be glad you did.