of course God's in the supermarket...and Barnes and Noble

First, God spoke to me:

"Don't throw away your heart, your soul, your madness; Don't give up on yourself; you must believe"

He said it through the amazing anointed singer I overheard on the overhead system at the bookstore.

Then came:

"I saw God in Central Park; he was blind and yet could see,"

The singer belted that line out; sounding akin to Sheryl Crow (fresh off Joan Osborne's bus with Sinead) meets Alannis & the Indigo Girls at the cross ( by the grocery store, which is significant to our story line)..

I felt like I was in church at Barnes and Noble..

Of course I had to ask the clerk what CD was playing.

I almost wondered if it was an officially Christian CD...until I heard the lyric "what the hell is going on?" in a song about God...at the grocery store.

Sigh of relief(:

It was one of those moments when I had to buy something I was hearing (by someone I wasn't familiar with) on the spot
(Dave Matthews, "Don't Drink the Water" was one of those moments).

The lyrics were God-haunted, a song about keeping the faith was followed by:

"I saw God in a grocery store; she was wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt....anyone got an answer? Anyone really care at all? ... I saw God on television, he had a ring in his nose...I saw God in Central Park, he was blind and yet could see....What the hell is going on? I was sitting in the back of my black limousine.."

That alone sold me.

(The line rates with Cohen's "The Holy Spirit asks 'Where's the beef'"..not to mention reminiscent of the honesty of "What if God Was One of Us," let alone the brutal psalmprayersong Jesus once sang in an unlikely place)

I am convinced God is hanging out in the seminaries of our day: supermarkets.
(No wonder the Clash got lost in one; they were seeking too soon).

Who was the up and coming singer?

Turned out to be Toni Childs (CD: "Keep the Faith") who has been recording..uh, a few decades now; won an Emmy, and even opened up for an early U2 gig, and on her first tour opened up for a chap named Bob Dylan.

Guess I was the one lost in the supermarket, where have I been?
I need to church at Barnes and

Noble more often;
and listen to St Reg (who has flatly prophesied we need to plant churches in Barnes and Noble) more carefully.



No surprise upon Googling Toni Childs, to learn that she grew up in a religious but restrictive home; she wasn't allowed to listen to "secular" music...but eventually did ( "It's like the Matrix. Suddenly this whole world opened up to you and you had no idea") , and was called into a

music career at a Pink Floyd concert (Of course! Sounds like God to me..)
She has recorded and toured with several other brilliant and God-haunted souls ( David Rhodes and Peter Gabriel).

A quick search reveals she has covered a song which Harry Nilsson/John Lennon once covered;
a Godhaunter that haunted me towards God years before my official conversion.

All that to say: I am only a few songs into her catalogue;
and I feel I'm already a bit more Kingdomed.

Off to the supermarket.

TONI CHILDS Interview 9am with David & Kim






1988:


1990: