The Holy Ghost ipod shuffle phenomenon.

I’m a big believer in the idea that God is actively conspiring to speak all around us.  When He has something He really wants to say, learn to expect the unexpected.  Several years ago, I was going through a dark trial one morning when I decided to go the gym.  I was listening to my ipod, with 30 gigs full of music, set on shuffle.  I love that feature because it feels like I’ve got my own radio station, where the only songs that are played are ones I like.

But this time was different.  U2’s anthem “Beautiful Day” came on, and somehow I heard the Holy Spirit whisper while I was listening (and working the elliptical machine).  It’s a song about losing everything you’ve got, only to find that in losing your life you have found it again.  I felt divine confirmation that the things I felt like I was losing were all for my good, and God was starting something fresh in my life.  (That something turned out later to be Renovatus, but that is another story for another time.)

Here’s the crazy part: when the song went off (keep in mind, still on random shuffle), ANOTHER live version of Beautiful Day came on my ipod.  And at that point I just began to weep and praise God.  Now I am fully aware that there are perfectly natural explanations that could be given to explain this as some kind of glitch.  But I am firmly convinced that it is through such so-called random “glitches” that God may speak the most profoundly.  If God can use a bush or a donkey to communicate to His servants (as we read in the Old Testament), I see no reason why He can’t use an ipod set on shuffle songs.

At Renovatus, whenever one of us feels like we can’t turn around without running smack dab into the same message from the Lord no matter where we go or what we do–we refer back to the Holy Ghost ipod shuffle phenomenon.  Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, God is communicating.  It’s not a question of whether or not He is speaking.  It’s a question of whether or not you are listening.

There is something mysterious at play with the shuffle.  Are you listening?