For a number of weeks now, Glenn has been quite open about the internal struggle he has been facing. On radio this morning, Glenn shared why “the light went on” for him this weekend after spending time with a friend of his who simultaneously called him the “smartest” and “dumbest” man he has ever met.
Composer Clyde Bawden has been instrumental (pun intended) in more ways than one for Glenn over the last few years. While Glenn and Clyde have collaborated on many projects professionally, Clyde’s music has also been a very important part of Glenn’s personal life.
“I probably have listened to his music more than even Michael Bublé's music, and he has really helped me. It's funny,” Glenn said. “It may be the little way that you feel about me sometimes. My voice has been there. Whatever you're feeling or going through, I've kind of been there with you in a way. That's the way I feel about Clyde. He doesn't know it, but his music has been there with me.”
Clyde was in Dallas over the weekend visiting a friend, and he ended up coming over to Glenn’s home and playing the piano for a few hours as Glenn wrote. It was about 1 o’clock in the morning when Glenn finally closed his notebook, and Clyde asked to hear what Glenn had written. Glenn shared a portion the “plea” he had authored this morning:
I know you are trying to tell me, but I'm having a hard time understanding. I can see patterns, but I'm really not good at seeing things that haven't been seen yet. I see a work ahead, I see sorrow, I see joy, but I don't understand it. I hear your call to love. Help me understand. Help me see your footsteps. I will go where you want me to go.
Sensing the struggle in Glenn’s words, Clyde asked what Glenn was so conflicted about. Upon hearing his answer, Clyde called Glenn on of “the smartest” and “the dumbest” guys he had ever met. He then asked Glenn a very pointed question: What do you worship?
Glenn responded that he worships God, to which Clyde asked why.
“His attributes. I worship him because of love and compassion and kindness and charity, truth, hope, all of that. He shows it to me. That's who he is. I want to be more like that. I want that in my life and that's why. That's why,” Glenn explained. “[Clyde] said, ‘Glenn, He's not giving you a job. He's not telling you what to do for a living or how to do your job. He's telling you how to live your life, and he's expecting more from you now.”
Reflecting on his newfound purpose, Glenn said that he began to ponder the life and actions of Jesus.
“I wrote down yesterday on the plane these words: What did Jesus do? All he did was empower people. That's all he did, empower people, period. He never worried about politics. He never worried about the economy. He never worried about his popularity. He never worried about his business. He never worried about any of that crap. None of it,” Glenn said. “He loved his enemy. He taught truth. He lived it every second of the day. He helped others live to be more peaceful. He empowered others: Greater things will you do. He only said the things that he had heard his dad say. He comforted. He lifted up. He mourned. He healed. And that caused a revolution? Yes.”
When Glenn began to piece together his conversation with Clyde alongside everything he was been praying about for the last several months, a sense of clarity arose.
"Gosh, when I'm saying these things out loud, they seem so obvious, and I know I've danced around them,” Glenn explained. “And I told my wife, ‘A bigger change is coming in my life than what happened to me in 2000 when we got married and I got baptized. A bigger change is coming and it's for the good, but it's going to be hard.”
Glenn invited the audience to come along with him on this journey of rediscovery.
“I'm going to try to do some things in my life, and if you want to come along with me, great. If you don't, great," Glenn concluded. "But I think by changing our lives, we'll change the world. And it's the only revolution that can be won. And it's the only one that matters. A little more on this tonight and the coming days because boy, the lights just turned on for me this weekend.”