What has been getting me out of bed on these cold, dark winter mornings?
The anticipation of hearing Psalm 23 again. Really.
On the twenty-second of November, I responded to a challenge. A forty day challenge that Louis Giglio gave me in the eighth chapter of his book Goliath Must Fall:
Every morning before I've done anything and every evening after I've done everything, I either listen to or read Psalm 23. Very first thing, very last thing. I've done this every day for the last four months.
It reminds me of growing up in Costa Rica in the seventies. At the end of the broadcast day, the television stations would sign off for the night by reading Psalm 23 (wouldn't that still be nice?!)
I know it's the famous verse plastered on tons of inspirational posters, keychains, and coffee mugs.
But there's a reason.
What other single chapter is so rich and full of gloriously realigning perspective?
It even is a progression toward intimacy, starting with "He" and then switching to "You" from the valley experience onward. Amazing!
In fact, about a month after I started doing this, I fought off a panic attack just by listening to a recording of it on repeat for about 30 minutes - the power of God's word!
So I took several versions and some poetic liberty to create a version that's below. I then recorded with several backgrounds. (Father's Land, Acoustic Guitar, Star Wars, Epic, Epic2, Piano, Rocky, NKJV - the classic version, Salmo 23 in Spanish) You can create a playlist on your phone or even set them as the song that your wake-up alarm plays. And I'm giving them to you. Enjoy!
Just click one of the links below, or select one of the zip files. Then throw them into iTunes, sync your phone to add them, and voila!
-Dave
ps. Bonus if you take the unaccompanied version and add your own background OR create your own version. I'd LOVE to hear them!!