I found this message from Wes King in a FB chat room. It is from CCM musician Wes King about Bob Bennett. Wes does end the post pass it on. So I took this as permission to copy and paste it here:
Per my last post about the great Bob Bennett.
I think, for some reason, that we get little glimpses of heaven here on earth.
The obvious ones for me are my wedding, my kids being born, surviving cancer are big ones.
I do remember well, the first time I heard Bob Bennett. I lived in a little town in Georgia, Winder; there were no bookstores or music stores in my blessed hometown. I had to drive to Athens, GA to a place called The Carpenters Shop, I think. I would drive there every weekend to see if the Pat Terry Group had released anything new. I obviously had no idea how the music biz worked. I was simply starving for Jesus music. I would make the weekly 35 minute drive and would go and ask the cashier if Pat Terry had put anything out. He would do his best not to roll his eyes and say that, no, they haven't.
So I would wonder as I wandered over to the music section and see if I could spend the $9.99 in my pocket on something else. I was as curmudgeonly back then as I am now about music, so often I would come home ten bucks richer minus a penny.
That is how I found Bob Bennett. I must have been around 16, maybe 17, because I was getting pretty good at guitar. I put on his record in my room and I knew there was a heaven. I can still see the glossy wood floors of my bedroom and the chest my record player sat on. I put that record on and I was alive. I was more alive after the first song. I was intrigued. The lyrics were captivating, his voice was butter, his guitar was... what the heck was HE DOING!!! QUICK, WHERE'S MY GUITAR. WAIT, I CAN'T PLAY THAT, WHAT KIND OF FREAK IS THIS? WHO IS THIE GUY? WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD OF HIM YET?
Footsteps in the Garden changed my life. It changed the way I play guitar. This guy is a unique talent that only a few people fall in, in my opinion.
I won't tell you who I think doesn't fall into this category, but I will a few who I think do.
(I have other categories, btw, but this is the singer, songwriter, poet, philosopher category),
Here is a sampling of those for me.
Mark Heard.
Pat Terry.
Well, it kind of stops there for me.
So many songs of his I love. One that was mentioned was Mountain Cathedrals. One of my favorites. I got to sing in a few amazing cathedrals in my day. Bob's song was ringing in my head as I played.
As an artist, Bob is a cathedral to me. His music is a beauty clothed in humility and brokenness.
As much as we all hate facebook, and are freaked out by the big brother thing that is happening. It was a Facebook post that made me go down memory lane and remember a slice of heaven in this poor fallen world.
Oh, and I agree with the post that someone mentioned about Andrew Peterson. Listen to his new song Is He Worthy, maybe you will think of heaven with me. Pass it on.
