Clay in the Hands

I have always been a huge Journey fan.  I think I wore out more than one cassette from Steve Perry and the crew back in the day.  And they continue to be among my favorite 80’s bands.  A little over a year ago, Journey released a new album – (sorry, I’m a product of an earlier time) a CD in today’s terms.  On this new release they featured a new lead vocalist named Arnel Pineda.  Arnel is from the Phillipines and has an incredible voice.  But the key to his acceptance as the newest member of the group is that he sounds amazingly like Steve Perry.  In fact, the CD has a full offering of new material but it also contains a sort of greatest hits cuts sung by Arnel as well.

He is an artist in his own right, but it is obvious that Arnel was chosen for the role because he is an accomplished imitator of the original.  It will be interesting to see where this talent takes him and the rest of the group.  I am very impressed with Arnel and his talent, but call me set in my ways –  there is only one Steve Perry.

But I am reminded in all of this that we are all called to be imitators.  (Read about it here).

If we are to fully live out what God wants us to be, then we must strive to be more like Jesus – imitators of his life – imitators of the original.  We find in the imitation that we learn to experience life as it was intended to be experienced – a life of joy and love.

Keep on imitating!