"Tin Man"

On Thursday morning, September 1st, my alarm woke me to the sound of a song by America, “Tin Man.” My alarm clock is set to the radio instead of that annoying beep. I have set on a local 24 hours station that plays oldies. Most mornings, I am entertained by a good “old time” rock or pop song. Also, I choose this station because they are very reliable. I can go to bed with confidence knowing that they will not be off the air when it is time for my alarm to sound. That, and I used to work at this station. Well, actually, it was at their sister AM station that now has a sports and country music format. On this morning, this song was of more interest than usual. Not that I like that particular song so much, just in how it happened. This was actually extraordinary! To begin with, on Thursday, I not normally get up at that time. I had to get up an hour earlier than usual. When the alarm sounded and America was singing “Tin Man” to me, I recalled hearing this same song before in this similar situation: getting up early to go exercise at the YMCA at 5:00AM. Coincidence? Maybe, but as I was listening, I quickly thought to myself, “Hey, that is the at the exact spot of the song as before.” Oh, so maybe there is a reason. I focused intently on the lyrics. Just as it had a happened before, just as the alarm sounded on that other day a few weeks or longer previously, they were singing the chorus, “But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man, That he didn’t, didn’t already have.” Oh, I see. Ummm? Well, if you know this song, you will recall that this particular lyric, this chorus, is repeated many times during the song. So, I listened, not just with my ears, but with my heart as I hastily dressed in my gym clothes. The rest of the chorus is: “And Cause never was the reason for the evening, Or the tropic of Sir Galahad. So, please, believe in me.” Sir. Galahad had little meaning for me at that point, but the rest was loud and clear. God was speaking to me. Yes, through some silly pop group form the 70’s. Not silly to me, they have some great music, but still, I am sure the nay sayers are saying right now, “Sure, Tim and what sort of drugs were you on?” I can see the Church Lady from Saturday Night Live saying, “Or could it be… Satan. Ummm?” I have been looking for love and money and all the things that they bring to me. Love, of course, is the most important thing. Well, God did not give me something that I do not already have, you see? There is someone in my life right now. The last lyric I quoted here was even more powerful. “So, please, believe in Me.” I have not been doing so well with that. What I need is already here, I just need to believe that God will Help me to help it grow. I need to stop playing the victim at times and blaming God for everything that is wrong in my life. I need to believe and to make God my friend again. No, there are no coincidence.